A creepy silence

Two days have passed without any incidents. The silence of Khairy and Hishammuddin and their likes is quiet creepy. Let's hope they take the decision of the people in their stride and reflect on why UMNO lost. They have contributed a great part to this debacle. They got corrupted with power in their head. Mahathir is happily blaming Abdullah for his ineffectiveness. Actually the person that needs to be blamed, the one who seeded all the nonsense in Malaysian politics is Mahathir himself. He orchestrated everything and set the tone for what was Malaysian politics during his reign. He allowed all kinds of excesses to run wild, and this is the result of his bad management. The politicians have had a ball of a time lining their pockets. The judiciary was in his pocket and beholden to him. The whole govt machinery were run by UMNO for the interests of the politicians. Corruption was rampant but accepted as the way of things. The irony now is that the stone he cast away, will now be seen as the possible saviour of Malaysia. In Anwar Ibrahim there is hope that there will be a new Malaysia for all Malaysians. No, it was not Abdullah's fault. He inherited the mess and all the cronies. UMNO is doomed and need to be cut down to size, minus the opportunists of course. Are we going to see a run on UMNO, MIC, MCA and Gerakan? Will the defection becomes a runaway avalanche? The party is over for UMNO.

The Bigger Test

Mas Selamat is a good test of our security system and Total Defence. Every element of the govt machinery and people were put into action without a hitch. They forgot to test the island wide siren though. But that might not be necessary by the nature of things. The bigger test is the test of leadership, or absence of leadership. We were, to borrow the analogy of an orchestra, without a conductor, without the lead violinist and without the manager. The orchestra kept on playing for 12 days with perfect coordination. The same score was played over and over again in different venues to the approval of the spectators. After 12 gruelling days, the tune sounded a bit jaded. But it was a good score and approval was given for the orchestra to continue playing. And we passed the bigger test, that we can continue to function normally in the absence of leadership. We were on auto pilot for 12 crisis days and everything went on smoothly. That is what we called an effective system managed by an effective team. With or without leadership, the system keeps on grinding. We survive the test.

Why so many charities and help schemes?

We are doing very very well economically. Full employment, huge national reserves, money pasting everywhere, money throwing everywhere, our banks have so much money that they have problems lending them out. Then our favourite past time is charity, setting up charitable organisations, organising charity events to raise funds, begging on the streets, setting up public help shemes and schemes and organisations. And officially hundreds of millions are spent to help the poor, if there is any, and unofficially millions and millions were collected from the public, also to help the poor. Why should a super rich little island with only 3 million citizens so obsessed about helping the poor? It is a strange phenomenon indeed. Where are the poor, 3,000 of them I heard, or where are the money? Oops, better clarify on this point. Are the money reaching the poor? Or if there are so few poor, why the need for so much money? Really what is causing the hardship to those who are struggling?

Selamat fooled his captors?

Did Selamat fool his captors? Or are his captors so easily fooled? Under normal circumstances we can laugh it off as another kopitiam talk. If our people in authority are so easily fooled, my god, what else can happen? Come to think of it, this is nothing new in the little red dot. Are the people being fooled everyday, I mean look at the money they have been giving away to hot shot charities? A little gimmicks here and there, a little promotion, a few luminaries sit in the board of directors or acting as chairpersons, and all the guards becomes non existence. We are easily fooled, that is a fact.

A higher level of political maturity

A glance at the winners in yesterday's election quickly reminds one of the numerous political prisoners among them. Lim Kit Siang, Lim Eng Guan, Tian Chua, and the currently in prison M Manoharan who won while in captivity. Then the indestructible Anwar Ibrahim, so corruption and sodomy stuck on his face, stood triumphantly on the rostrum with his wife and daughter, both convincingly won their wards. And there were many other ex political detainees who were and are going into Parliament. What does all these say to the Malaysian political system or to the credibility of drum up charges of political detainees? The people were simply pissed off by such wild accusations, even if some are true, and chose to denounce the regime in power and their excesses to abuse power. Political criminals are no criminals. Fictitious political crimes are no crimes. The Malaysian political system is much more mature than ours. The Malaysian electorate are much more mature than ours. The Malaysian ruling party, on this occasion, is also more mature than ours. At least they did not say their electorate is stupid to vote for the opposition. I will retract this if they start to kiss the kris and threaten violence.

2008 GE in Malaysia

The results say it all. The Malaysians are not going to be dragged along by a corrupt coalition that is sinking deeper into cronyism and racism. In brief these are what the voters have said. 1. No more corruption 2. Down with race politics 3. Down with threats and violations of minority rights 4. Down with Barisan National 5. Return of Anwar Ibrahim 6. A new justice and a new Malaysia Losing 5 states to the opposition is a big defeat of the BN. The Malays, Chinese and Indians have started to abandon a sinking BN that is bankrupt of ideas. They have lost faith in what BN can bring to the people and to bring Malaysia forward to the next century. Would anyone be kissing his kris again? Would there be more war cries in UMNO convention? The toll of bullying the component parties of BN and threats of blood letting is for all to see. UMNO has not only discreditted their component parties but also lost credibility among the Malays. The BN coalition is habis. Gerakan, MCA, MIC and the east Malaysian parties may reflect on their role and value to the people and may find it best to leave the Barisan. It has long been a UMNO Barisan than a Barisan National. Staying on will further erode their support from the electorate. They have been totally ineffective, and humiliated by their inaction or fear of UMNO that they have been living in shame in recent years. Would we see a mass defection of these parties to a New Barisan led by Kedilan and DAP? What would happen if the MCA, Gerakan, MIC and other component candidates just defect to join the New Barisan, if that is possible? Or they could resign and stand for the opposition in by elections. If that be the case, the next by election, with Anwar standing, will be a mini general election. And the death nail in the UMNO/BN will be complete if more UMNO candidates also join the cause and defect to the opposition parties. Having said all these, the Malaysians should give a standing ovation to Pak Lah for allowing democracy to flourish and run its own course, for allowing the people the freedom to choose their national leaders. Abdullah has allowed a more freer Malaysia to take place, more breathing space for the opposition and has also laid the foundation of a new era for Malaysia and Malaysians. There is hope that Malaysia will become truly Malaysia under the current ethos and political climate. There is hope that the judiciary, the civil service and uniformed services will be allowed to act independently and professionally, to serve the people than the interests of a few individual politicians. Well done Malaysia! Well done Pak Lah. And good wishes to all the opposition parties.

We are the centre of the Universe

We have for several years been meddling, or they called it innovating, with our education system. We introduced an Integrated Programme, a 6-year through train where students need not sit for the 'O' level examination. We also introduced the more intellectually challenged subject, Knowledge and Inquiry, to our A level students. After six years, the first batch of IP students are applying for university places overseas. Also the students taking KI in place of GP are also doing the same. And they came to a road block. The overseas universities are not ready to accept the changes. Probably some may not even heard of our IP programme. We are ahead of our time in education creativity. Those moribund universities in the US and UK have been sleeping and failed to keep up with us. They are still so backward that they are not going to admit our aced students without an O level result or without the GP. So far the msm has reported that Imperial College, King's College London, Cambridge and Oxford have affirmed their recognition of our advanced and higher standard of education. London School of Economics don't and so are many others. Our students are now in a bind. Their choice for overseas universities may now be very limited. To avoid such problems we should can our IP and KI options for now until we notify all the backward universities that they have to keep up with our changes or else. A good thing to ponder at is to look more than 2 steps ahead before making such innovative changes. It is difficult for the whole world to keep up with the pace of our change.

The most incredible story ever told

After more than a week of msm reporting, the official version of Mas Selamat Kastari's escape is still by walking through the toilet and presumably walking out of the detention centre free from any obtructions, checks or guards. It makes the detention centre looks like a shopping centre. Well we have to believe that this is the story, the most incredible story ever told in the City of Possibilities.

What kind of tooth?

It is a fact that msm have limited space and have to be very selective on what to print, including forum letters. They is also the editor's choice or agenda. Thus many issues seem to die off after a few days of reporting. This gives the impression that no one is interested in them any more. And some jokers conveniently may conclude that it is all over, issue accepted and even supported by the people. So if the msm stop printing criticisms about an issue, the issue is now acceptable or supported by the people. Is that truth or tooth? The good thing about cyberspace is that issues can be repeated and continued, postings over and over again to keep them alive.

Get rid of Samy Vellu

After getting rid of Anwar Ibrahim, after calling the people to get rid of Abdullah Badawi, now it is Samy Vellu's turn. Mathathir has spoken. Strange, all three were his choice ministers. Anwar supposely his successor until the sodomy charge. Abdullah, his choice as the current PM. And Samy was his right hand man, the man to lead MIC. Now all three are not worthy when left alone. Probably they are only worthy working under Mahathir and he could teach or lead them to do the right things.

Mean Testing: The human touch

This is the heading of Tan Hui Leng's article in the Today paper. Her position is that mean testing is necessary to make the rich pay more. What she hopes for is for the system or the administrator to show a little human touch. Can this happen? The idea or thought of mean testing has already lost that human touch. Like it or not, it is subjecting another human bean to testing his means, asking him/her how much he has in his pocket and whether to let him through. To test another human bean is to embarrass the bean. Only those who know that they would not be subject to such testings will come out with such an idea. The embarrassment is on the other party. They are safe. They even think that it is cute. Forget about being human or the human touch once one accepts the principle of mean testing. Oh, Hui Leng also mentioned that nowadays people no longer kpkb about meant testing. So perhaps some may even say that the idea is now acceptable.

Which is worst?

Corruption is a clear cut case of wrong doing. Those who benefitted from corruption, no matter who well off, still walk around with a sense of guilt or guilt hanging over their head. They is shame, immorality, fear that justice will catch up with them. What about those who are collect largesses legally through proper or legitimate appointments to high offices, and collecting millions? In such cases there is no guilt and no sense of wrong doings. There is even a false sense of pride and self serving logics. Some may even demand to be paid more even when they know that they are doing sweet nothing or doing things that rightfully should only be paid a fraction of what they are getting. And the people superficially accept the above two forms at face value. One despised and the other with dignity. Which is worst? The tooth or the truth?

We are the best

The best students in our schools are placed on the through train Integrated Programme(IP). And the very best took the new subject Knowledge and Inquiry(KI) in place of their GP. This KI is of a higher level and more difficult. So is the IP programme which is designed to prepare students for tough university education. How can those overseas universities refused to accept our best students that have IP and KI? Those universities who don't are going to lose out as they will not have our best with them. Tell them good riddance. We will find places for our best and brightest students in other universities that are willing to accept them. And I also heard that some universities insist that our best students must also have 'O' level results. Why? Can they accept that our students without 'O' level results are actually our cream? Maybe our MOE can issue a testimonial to these students to vouch that they are great academic material. Would these overseas institutions still ignore their top grades and insist on their 'O' level? We are first world country, not third world where the grades can be manufactured. We have good quality control system and very strict professional standards. In the meantime, for those students who may not gain a place in these foreign universities, don't worry, we will find a way. Just pray that everything will be alright.

Notable quotes by LKY

"To be the prime minister, you don't have to know every instrument, but you got to recognise, ah, he's a good violinist, he'll be the first violinist, he'll be the double bass. He will play the viola, he will have the trumpet, he will do the drums. Then you coordinate them and then you have great music. And if you already have a great orchestra, you can put a dummy there and you still got great music." Lee Kuan Yew

Aga aga can liao

Literally translated, it means guess work also can do. Gone were the days when we pride ourselves to do things correctly, accurately, professionally and anything that is hapzardly done is frown upon. We are the best and we will not accept slipshod work. What has mean testing becoming to? Get some simple data so that it is easy to handle, not accurate never mind, aga aga also can. Too detail, too tedious, too complicate, too problematical. Wah lan eh. Like that also can.

Caregivers getting notice in Parliament

The issue of caregivers getting some recognisation was discussed in Parliament. Boon Heng would need more time to study the implications before deciding on how to deal with them. Caregivers now only refer to those looking after the sick and aged. What about the young? There are many obvious cases of working couples with young children that need someone to look after. At the same time all the housewives are encouraged to rejoin the industry. The logical choice is to hire a maid. A better and more reliable choice is to get the grandmas, grandpas, sisters or brothers to look after the children. It is more pro family values to depend on relatives than to hire a maid. No doubt this role of mending the young is part and parcel of family life, the alternatives are there for the caregivers of the young to seek a more rewarding jobs than to stay at home. In this materialistic world, the more we need to look at those who choose to stay at home to look after the young and their love ones. This is not an issue for the minister looking after the aged. He has his hands full. Maybe another minister can take a look at it.

Mas Selamat Kastari can survive for a long time

Survival experts claimed that Mas Selamat could survive a long time in our forest reserves on fruits and small animals. That's not very comforting. It is almost one week. Think he might find the wild fruits and wildlife taste pretty jerlat by now. A pot of hot lemak curry and fried chicken might be heavenly to him. It might be a good idea to place a nice food spread on the fringe of the forest. Anyone know what is his favourite food? Easier than searching for him in the thick forests. : ) I got this funny feeling that while the commotion is all in the nature reserves and parks, he could be watching television somewhere in the comfort of civilisation.

Never mind rising rentals...

Singapore voted best city to live in for expats inspite of complains by locals of rising costs and housing. Looks like the increasing cost is not a problem to the foreign talents. Time to raise rentals higher as the foreigners don't mind. I think the foreign students also won't mind. After all Singapore is still cheaper than other western countries and these students are probably quite rich. And for those who aren't, they are probably recipients of scholarships. High prices good. High rentals must also be good. They are paying for quality.

Returning some petrol tax dollars to consumers

If I am not mistaken the petrol tax is based on a fixed percentage of the petrol price. The price has gone up from around $1.80 or less to above $2.00 on average recently. This means that petrol tax collected will proportionally increase by about 10%. Would be nice if the tax can be adjusted downwards just a little to keep petrol price from running away. Transportation cost for all goods and services will go up accordingly if petrol price is allowed to go up unchecked. The repercussion is very pervasive. I already hear people saying 'Fat Hope' that petrol tax will be reduced. Don't ever dream of it. High petrol price is due to external factors beyond our control.

Hong Lim Speakers Corner

There were new calls to revive and promote the Speakers Corner. It is obvious that the corner is dying like the bubble tea shops. It was a flash in the pan excitement. So some people are trying to make this corner a lively place for talking cock again. I believe that the Speakers Corner should be left as it is, as the Symbol of Free Speech that is uniquely Singapore. A speaker's stand should be erected in the park, like the one Stamford Raffles is standing on. And on the stand should be inscribed the history of free speech in Singapore. It can start something like this. Long long ago, freedom of speech was very important in Singapore. And the govt contributed this park for the citizens to express themselves freely. This speaker's stand was also erected to allow the speakers to stand above the crowd to speak. Long queue of speakers took turns to speak to a park packed with spirited Singaporeans. Over the years the people got richer and more contented with their lives and found speaking in the Speakers Corner a waste of time. Slowly they abandoned the park. They have more important things to do, like making more money, than wasting time here. Today, the Speakers Corner is a monument and symbol of the history of freedom of speech given to the people. At the bottom it may include a postscript saying Singaporeans choose to stay at home as transportation cost is too high to get to the Speakers Corner. And on the reverse side of the speaker's stand the whole procedure on application for a permit to speak in the Speakers Corner can also be inscribed. This will make it easy for anyone to know how to go about applying for a permit. The place can then be promoted as a tourist attraction.