The Parliament Glare

On the first day of Parliament Low Thia Khiang popped the cheeky question to Kan Seng on whether the rumour that Mas Selamat was already dead. All he got was a glare. And he conceded and answered his own question, that Mas was not dead. Yesterday he was asking Hsien Loong about accountability and suggesting that Kan Seng should resigned. He got a Hsien Loong glare. And he kept quiet when Hsien Loong asked him if Kan Seng should resign. At the rate that it is going, the glare will be so blinding that Parliament need not switch the lights anymore.

A new prison in Changi

It was reported that a better and more secure facility would be built inside Changi to replace the WRDC. A forumer wrote to Today saying that it was a bad idea as the terrorists and highly dangerous prisoners would be in contact with other prisoners and could turn it into a breeding ground for terrorists. He suggested an island like St John to keep them away from the masses. All very bad idea to me. We should not be wasting so much public money on terrorists and dangerous prisoners. And please don't give up our tropical island resorts to them. What they need is a double layer container, sealed and placed in the centre of nowhere. That should do the job. Just add a CCTV for added surveillance. But make sure it is switched on.

Notable quote by Redbean

'You can delegate a task, but you cannot delegate your responsibility.' Redbean I learnt this as a young officer in NS.

Professional and competent

I always have high regard for our security people. And I said that not without any justification. The last 40 years of security and a sense of being in a safe country speak for this belief. And many Singaporeans can swear by this too. But with the Mas Selamat case, it puts everyone in doubt. The Chinese has a phrase called 'mao dun.' This is best exemplified when my kopitiam talk cock friends pointed out all the glaring shortfalls that a boy scout could do better. The escape was due to a confluence of factors, factors that are too elementary, that should not have been there in a highly professional and competent organisation. Grunt has pointed out many shortcomings and confusing facts above that I don't wish to elaborate or to repeat. If Mas Selamat escaped through a well thought out plan, with the assistance of a gang of helpers, that would be a different issue. What had happened, when a highly dangerous prisoner could practically walked out of a high security centre, must have baffled many people. What does the simplicity of the escape says? It is this simplicity that is shocking and unforgiveable, if I have to put it bluntly. The security personnel and system were not challenged a little bit. They actually facilitated the escape. The more I look at the facts presented, the more ridiculous the escape becomes. And my kopitiam friends asked, 'Can you call that professional and competent?' I have nothing else to say.

Misinformation on Tibet

Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and a leading German expert have voiced their concern over many westerners' misconceptions regarding China, and some Western media's biased and misleading coverage of the recent events in Tibet. "We see China in a totally false way, " Schmidt said in a recent interview with German newspaper Westdeutschland Zeitung. The former chancellor's remarks came as major German television channels and newspapers adopted an anti-China tone, even with false pictures and deliberate selection of video grabs. Western hostility towards China is largely rooted in the strong perception of many westerners that China should develop according to the "democratic mode" represented by the United States or Western European countries, said Schmidt. "Why should it have to?" he asked. Schmidt, who has visited China 15 times, said many westerners have no idea about China's history and culture, or the complicated political and social issues that the country is dealing with, including Tibet. China is the world's "historic experiment" and "it has to go its own way," he said. "I do not say this," he added, "to defend the current Chinese communist leaders or to make the political situation (there) look better." "There is no judgment in what I have said so far," said Schmidt. Eberhard Sandschneider, director of the Research Institute of the German Council on Foreign Relations, said many westerners' fear of China is largely attributed to their uncertainty about what effect the country's rapid development may have on the Western world. "I firmly believe it makes no sense to have fears about China," said Sandschneider, one of the most prominent China experts in Germany. China does have social, economic and environmental issues, some of them deeply challenging, he said. Germany and other nations should stop their interference in China's affairs as long as what China does is "legitimate," Sandschneider said on an online chatroom of Germany's ARD TV. "It is too cheap at this point to only criticize China instead of raising questions about ourselves, something we must do to deal with global challenges," he said. Referring to a potential boycott of the Beijing Olympic Games, Sandschneider said it makes more sense in the long term to engage with China, including on the Olympics, rather than reacting emotionally to what happened in Tibet, which has long been a part of China. Adrian Geiges, a correspondent for the German weekly Stern, said in a recently published story entitled "Dalai Lama is no innocent angel" that he was "outraged" by the one-sided perception of many Westerners regarding Tibet. What happened in Tibet, including arson and assaults on innocent civilians, was "racial violence," which can by no means be justified, said Geiges, who was among the few foreign journalists in Tibet during the violent unrest in March. "However, many westerners are under the impression that the Chinese attacked the Tibetans," he said. "Where does this misunderstanding come from?" One of the reasons, Geiges said, is the idealization of the Dalai Lama and Tibetans, who many westerners believe are innocent and non-violent and should receive sympathy for the alleged human rights violations. However, the violent and deadly attacks on civilians by the rioters have instead "violated the human rights of the Han Chinese," said Geiges. Moreover, Tibet was no paradise under the rule of the Dalai Lama, the German journalist pointed out. About 95 percent of the Tibetans under the rule of the Dalai Lama were serfs who were not even allowed to learn to read or write, he said. The Dalai Lama, who has been traveling around the world since going into exile in 1959, has managed to convince many westerners that the Chinese government was responsible for the so-called "cultural genocide" in Tibet, which did not happen. In this sense, "the Dalai Lama is no innocent angel but a successful diplomat," Geiges said. The deliberate distortion of the recent unrest in Tibet by Western media has raised grave concerns abut professional ethics as well as its potential political and social repercussions across the world. The Chinese public is venting its spleen online over some Western media groups' inaccurate reports about the Tibet riots. Various inaccurate photos from Western media claiming to portray the Lhasa riots of March 14 have been collected and uploaded onto the Internet by some Chinese overseas students. The collection comprises dozens of pictures and footage broadcast by well-known Western media outlets, with netizens highlighting the misleading captions accompanying the images. The Germany-based RTL TV and N-TV have made corrections on their websites on March 23 and 24 respectively, and also apologized to the public. The Washington Post published an editor's note on March 24, saying the caption for an earlier version of a slideshow on the Tibet riot was incorrectly associated with a photo from Nepal where Nepalese uniformed police were dispelling Tibetans. The caption on the new version was corrected. On www.anti-cnn.com, netizens continue to pressure Western media, including CNN and BBC, to apologize to their Chinese audience. (What I want to add is that many of these western countries in Europe were accomplices to the semi colonisation of China during the Ching Dynasty. They looted, raided and took advantage of China and exploited all they could with no sense of guilt. And what had China done to any of them? Nothing. China was their victim for more than a century.)

The apple is rotting

The big juicy red apple was too good to believe. People have this uncanny feeling that something is wrong but could not place where exactly has gone wrong. In the meantime the apple keeps rotting from the inside. Finally we are seeing an open sore. The worms are crawling out and it is looking very ugly. In the days of Goh Keng Swee or Howe Yoon Chong, or Pang Tee Pow, they would be screaming their heads off and many heads would be chopped, butts kicked. Compare to the scene today, all so cool. Complacency or silly, we looked very amateurish. One thing for sure, no one will engage us as their consultants on security matters. We have lost all credibility in this field.

A very uncomfortable moment in Parliament

The spot light was on Kan Seng. He spoke in all seriousness, telling a very difficult story to a Parliament that was shocked by the truth. The mouths were gapping widely in disbelief. It must be a very uncomfortable time for Kan Seng to tell a clumsy truth that he himself said, was simple, silly and incredible. There was nearly a full house in Parliament. Practically the whole cabinet was there, including the MM, SM and PM. It was serious business. There was no time for funny questions. But funny question there was when Low Thia Khiang asked Kan Seng if the rumour that Mas Kastari was already dead while the escape story was a diversion. Kan Seng simply asked him if he believed in the story. And that ended the questioning. How could such a question be raised? What are the implications of the question? No joking matter really. Imagine what would it be like if the story is true. It would mean that the whole escape was a hoax! How could the govt stand on its feet with such a big hoax? Thus, the question shouldn't be asked at all. That was the only news clip of a funny question, and I presume there were none after that. Even asking a simple question under such circumstances requires a lot of courage. They better be relevant to the issue.

The Escape - An official version

Kan Seng called it a simple, silly and incredible truth. I was stunned by the simplicity of it all. If I know it is like that, I would rather let it be kept underwrap from the public. Honestly, I struggle to accept this truth. And I think every Singaporean will be bewilder by the revelation. One thing for sure, there was no attempt to window dress the facts. Otherwise all the gapping holes will be patched. It was a clumsy truth. That makes it more genuine and painful. The truth does not need to be elegant and watertight. Only in a movie or a novel will the truth be cleverly scripted. As they said, truth is more fictional than fiction. So Singaporeans will be left to wonder about this truth, to live with it or have their nightmares pondering over it. It will be the topic in everyone's lip for a long time to come. You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!

All can play the separatist game

Would u support American Chinese to secede from America If u support Tibetan minority to do so? A letter to NY Times. ================ March 31st, 2008 3:48 am Mr. Kristof: I am a 3rd generation ethnic-Chinese overseas, an American lawyer based in San Francisco, with my own private law firm engaged in transactional work between China/HKG/Taiwan and California. I am not known for being an apologist for the Chinese government, but as an ethnic Chinese in the overseas Diaspora, I am outraged at the "piling" and orchestrated China demonization and bashing on this lead-up to the '08 Olympics. That the West, from Europe, and the U.S., have exploited this year's Olympics to machinate, scheme, and execute this "Mau Mau" against China and its peoples, at this time, at this juncture,using the Dalai Lama and his secessionist movement, smacks of western powers "overreaching" and will be met with resistance and outrage from the ethnic Chinese Diasporic communities scattered throughout 135 countries around the world. In San Francisco, the only Olympics torch relay stop in the U.S., we ethnic Chinese in the San Francisco Bay Area have been completely muffled by your news media in America, and the biased reporting tilting towards the "Shangri-la" Lamaist farce of a pacifist Dalai Lama is outrageous and will not be allowed to pass without the appropriate response, in our own "assymetric" ways. China and its peoples are no longer the "sick men of Asia." Over a century and a half ago, opium was used by the Western imperialists to subjugate China and the Chinese people. Today, the drugs and drug addiction are reversed, with Western Europe and the U.S. sapped by its own domestic erosion of fundamental civility, economic decline, and implosion within its inner cities. Your financial systems are in chaos, characterized by greed, rampant looting and plundering in Wall Street. You are stuck in a quagmire in the Middle East which sees no end in sight. But for China, and its cheap imports, the U.S. economy will be in an even worse shape than it is today. As to Europe, who cares? Sarkozy and Merkel presides over two countries and economies which we Chinese really don't care much about, especially among the growing ethnic Chinese overseas Diaspora not just in Asia-Pacific, but now spreading onto Latin America and Africa. Big deal. The Europeans and Americans can boycott the Beijing Olympics come August, 2008. My family and I will proudly attend and participate in the Olympics "coming out" party in Beijing, willingly, with pride, and with our pocketbooks. In the meantime, let my white liberal/regressive neo-fascist San Franciscans wallow in their own perverted, constricted, narrow-minded little world. The world has passed San Francisco by. As a matter of fact, we ethnic Chinese in San Francisco are mobilizing and hoping that we can secede from white San Francisco. Why not ? Since it appears that you white Americans are so hyped up over "Shangri-La" Tibet as an Independent State, and support secession as a universalist right. Why now allow us Chinese in San Francisco to secede and form our own city, with our own governance. After all, we constitute 1/3 of your damn white supremacist city where the power is reposed in white people, and our city hall is controlled by white people. Free San Francisco. A free San Francisco East. Free Quebec. Free Louisiana. Free Hawaii. Free El Norte Aztlan, and return America's Southwest, a hugh swath of Texas, California back to Mexico. Didn't the U.S. illegally seize what used to be Mexican land and territority. As an ethnic Chinese in the overseas Diaspora, I and others will mobilize and we will fight back, as we mobilized in response to all the anti-Chinese pogroms in our overseas Diasporic experience. - Posted by Edward Liu

What can you say?

Abdullah Badawi added another feather on his hat. I reread what was reported in the Today paper. Yes, it is true, Syed Hamid said he has approved Anwar's party to print its own newspaper. He said, '...there was no reason the Keadilan party should not have its own newspaper since other political parties have theirs.' Now, would this be possible if Mahathir is still in power? Malaysia Boleh. This is another big step forward towards press freedom and a level playing field for all the political parties. Such maturity was unheard off and thought not possible. Yes, Malaysia is moving towards a more sensible political structure with more checks and balances. Good for Malaysia. It is something we can learn from. Are we more mature or the Malaysians?

Charity is popular business

Why is charity or setting up a charity is such a good business, or popular thing to do? Bankrupts are doing it, kids are doing it, jobless people are doing it, religious people are doing it, and officials are doing it? There must be something very attractive about doing charity. Good for the heart, good for the image. Or is there something more to it? Looking at the number of charity organisations or funds that are being set up every month, it has truly become a business, with many people being employed and working. Don't be surprise soon one of these entrepreneurs will be receiving the businessman of the year award.

The perceived fear of the internet

The internet is seen as a destructive or unfriendly force by most govt. They see internet as undermining whatever they set out to do. They see internet as critical, cynical and opposing whatever they say or whatever they want the people to believe. So internet is misinformation, biased information. Msm is genuine information and unbiased. What kind of tooth is this? Actually the internet is just a neutral tool, a new way of communication. The power of the day has been using and monopolising the msm to serve their own agenda all the time. With msm, they can say what they like without being challenged. Now they are uncomfortable with the internet for they no longer have control, they cannot say what they want to say and hear what they want to hear. This is the perceived fear of the internet. And in a way it is true. For only the contrarian views are expressed in the internet. The views of the authority or govt are seldom heard or expressed in the internet. But this is not the fault of the internet for having a skewed view. The internet is gaining this reputation by default. The govt and authority stay away, shun the internet as a matter of choice. The reasons is best left to themselves to explain, but pretty obvious. And the internet is branded as a misfit. Why blame the internet when the authority refuses to engage the cyber citizens? Internet is fair game to all. If you have a good point, it will be accepted by the logical and reasonable. And this is the group that the authority should be talking to. Not the cuckoos and the mentally disturbed. There are many in cyberspace but they should simply be ignored. The internet is there and everyone is invited to have his say, freely. Everyone can have a view.

Dialect teaching - Going forward or backward?

I was brought up as a dialect speaker. I still feel the same sense of intimacy when conversing in my dialect with another of the similar kind. In the name of culture and roots and connection with Ah Ma and Ah Kong, some want to bring back dialect officially. The idea is seductive. Mandarin is a little alien and a little uncomfortable to many. The key question is whether we should go back to dialects. We have come so far, after the initial resistance and pain, to have Mandarin fully established among the young. The days of the old hags are over, or numbered. I too will be over in no time. Any attempt at this stage to reverse the direction will be a big waste of effort. For before the dialect is acquired, the old generation of old hags will be gone and the new generation of old hags will be Mandarin or English speakers. There will no longer be any anguish for not being able to communicate with Ah Kong and Ah Ma. Mandarin and a standard Chinese script have done immeasurable good to a huge country like China, a country that is so diverse in culture and ethnicity. Imagine what would China be like without an official language. Maybe they will have to adopt English as the common language. Do not underestimate the power of language. English is the lingua franca of the West. It has slowly evolved and become a language of choice in science and technology, in trade and commerce, and in diplomacy. Most important, it allows the world to speak to one another. Do we want to dilute our effort in having one common language for a group of diverse Chinese just because we want to talk to a few old hags at home? Think very carefully. Think with the head and not the heart. My heart says yes to dialect. My head says no. OK, it is only for a few in schools. An elective subject for those who want. Can we afford the resources if every 3 person want to learn their mother tongue? If we are going ahead with this experiment, we must be prepared to give in to the request of all racial groups who are emotionally attached to their mother tongue. My personal choice, let's don't turn back and undo all the things that have been done. We will create a bigger mess. Talk cock sing song is ok. When talk cock and sing song are taken seriously and implemented as official policies that will affect the whole people and the future generation, let's be more careful.

The awakening

Like it or not, believe it or not, the Malaysian GE has brought new light into Cyberspace. Hsien Loong had talked about it, and has hinted that new regulations will be put in place to match the developments of internet news and gossips. Then TOC is taking the initiative to think ahead and has came out with a list of proposals to preempt what the bright guys and gals would come up with to fix the cyberspace challenge. And Loh Chee Kong also wrote an article questioning the relevance and the role that the msm should play before it becomes irrelevant. Actually all the professional journalists have been very uneasy with what they were doing and wanted a change. But they are just too smart to talk about it. Many would want to express themselves differently, write about issues they feel passionately about, the way they really see them. Poor buggers, trying to earn a decent living and constantly bug by their conscience, and having sleepless night. Then having to put up a brave front in cocktail parties explaining why and what they did are the tooth. And having to bear with the cynical smiles around them.

A Sunday morning muse

Green Peas asked me if I am a believer. Firstly it is not nice to tell someone you don't believe in him. Secondly it can be a dangerous thing to do. On a Sunday morning, maybe it is good to let the imagination runs wild. Let's create a hypothetical scenario. LKY decides that he had enough of politics for a lifetime. And he feels that Hsien Loong deserves a good break, having worked so hard to look after a Singaporean population that is increasingly more demanding and less appreciative of the sacrifices politicians made for them. So he bought a piece of land in Australia, about 100 times the size of Singapore. And he calls it the state of LKY. Oops, miss out the e. The estate of LKY. He and his family and his extended families are going to retire into this estate that he can called his own. No more politics, just live and enjoy life like a baron. Well, that should be a good and happy ending like in the fairy tales. And they live happily ever after. Now a new chapter of politiking starts in paradise. Overnight, every minister realises that he is a PM potential. Everyone suddenly found the inner calling, that he is cut out to take Singapore to greater heights. All have great plans on the new Singapore that he wants it to be. The amazing thing is that there are more than a dozen ministers vying for the post when none was available yesterday. And everyone look so good and so capable, and so deserving. Let's give it a try. PM Jayakumar, PM Wong Kan Seng, PM Lim Boon Heng, PM Ng Eng Hen, PM Tharman, PM Lim Hng Kiang, PM Teo Chee Hian, PM George Yeo, PM Lee Boon Yang, PM Shanmugam, PM Yaacob, PM Khaw Boon Wan. They all sound so good, so comfortable. Singaporeans, I think, will easily get use to calling any one of them PM. Not that difficult actually. The morning air smells so refreshing.

Why finding the next PM is so difficult?

My earlier suggestion is that no one has the aspiration and ambition to want to be the PM. I clarify, no one in the ruling party or in the cabinet now has that kind of ambition or audacity to want the job. So the present politicians can be totally ruled out. So what's the problem Joe? Actually PAP has created it's own problem for keeping a lid on a potential PM to rise from the ground on his own volition. I remember, one criteria in choosing PAP candidate is to reject those that are too willing to serve or want to come into politics. So no eager beavers. What is happening now is that all the eager beavers will pretend to be disinterested. All will say, 'I am not interested in politics!' And when offer, they quickly say no or want another 5 years to think about it. Another problem that is self created is to look for successful people in the different fields. So all the smart politicians or people with political ambition know what to do. Be successful in their own fields first and wait to be invited for tea. And all are eagerly waiting. Bet you, there will be some wolves in sheep's clothing waiting as well. When the system of picking politicians is such, everyone that is smart enough will want to pretend to be another Zhu Ke Liang, say no three times and let the master wait at the doorstep. In the meantime hide in seclusion and patiently wait for the master to come knocking at the door. The most damaging thing for any PM potential to do is to say 'I want, I want.' Any disclosure of such an ambition is a sure way of an early political demise. So how to find the next PM?

How could so wrong be so right?

The Malaysian govt is compensating 6 judges who were sacked by Mahathir in 1988. Among them was the former Lord President Tun Salleh Abas. There was no admission of guilt but many see this as a compromise way of saying sorry, that the govt had done wrong. And the people who are making the amend are the same UMNO leaders that said nothing and went along with the misdeed. How could something that was so right then, is now seen and acknowledged by all that it was wrong without even a retrial? Or is that the intent, to avoid a reopening of the case to put right what was wrong? How much faith could the Malaysians place on their leaders for such miscarriage of justice, to boot out their eminent people in the judiciary? But this is Malaysian politics. And this is democracy, or is it?

The emergence of the next PM

Singaporeans have been sold the idea that the next PM must come from those in the 30s, probably some straight A's kid who is very successful making money somewhere else. See, straight A's and making money are two vital qualities. The heart and the passion to serve the people are of lesser importance. How many Singaporeans really believe that the next PM will be someone in his 30s today? If life is so simple, that we can plan everything to such an extent, we will have peace and prosperity in the world. When JB Jeyaratnam announced the formation of a new Reform Party, I say, geez, he could be our next PM if the force wants him to be. He is available and offering himself to the people. And he, surprisingly named his party the Reform Party. A senior 82 year gentleman with reform in mind. Reform, a milder version of Revolution and change, should be initiated from the young hot heads as many would naturally think so. Now, this octogenarian is going to lead the reform of the new Singapore. And he has a full list of agenda on what he wants to reform. Kids, stand aside. Not your turn yet. JB is here first. A man who has an undying passion to lead and serve the country, with a heart and intention in the right place. He may not have the straight A's and the money making ability, but he wants to serve the country. Who should the Singaporeans choose? Someone who wants to do the job or someone they have to beg to do the job and with offers of a huge salary package? And then the guy comes in and says it is a big sacrifice to take the job? He may even say Singapore and Singaporeans are so lucky to have him for a song. And Singaporeans must forever be grateful. This is the land of possibilities. Don't doubt, anything is possible.

Hypocrisy and danger

hrhPublished on Monday, April 14, 2008 by CommonDreams.org The Hypocrisy and Danger of Anti-China Demonstrations by Floyd Rudmin We hear that Tibetans suffer “demographic aggression” and “cultural genocide”. But we do not hear those terms applied to Spanish and French policies toward the Basque minority. We do not hear those terms applied to the US annexation of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1898. And Diego Garcia? In 1973, not so long ago, the UK forcibly deported the entire native Chagossian population from the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. People were allowed one suitcase of clothing. Nothing else. Family pets were gassed, then cremated. Complete ethnic cleansing. Complete cultural destruction. Why? In order to build a big US air base. It has been used to bomb Afghanistan and Iraq, and soon maybe to bomb Iran and Pakistan. Diego Garcia, with nobody there but Brits and Americans, is also a perfect place for rendition, torture and other illegal actions. When the Olympics come to London in 2012, the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu will certainly lead the demonstrators protesting the “demographic aggression” and “cultural genocide” in Diego Garcia. The UN Secretary General, the President of France, the Chancellor of Germany, the new US President and the entire US Congress will certainly boycott the opening ceremonies. The height of hypocrisy is this moral posturing about 100 dead in race riots in Lhasa, while the USA, UK and more than 40 nations in the Coalition of the Willing wage a war of aggression against Iraq. This is not “demographic aggression” but raw shock-and-awe aggression. A war crime. A war on civilians, including the intentional destruction of the water and sewage systems, and the electrical grid. More than one million Iraqis are now dead; five million made into refugees. The Western invaders may not be doing “cultural genocide” but they are doing cultural destruction on an immense scale, in the very cradle of Western Civilization. Why is the news filled with demonstrators about Tibet but not about Iraq? And as everyone knows but few dare say, “demographic aggression” and “cultural genocide” can be applied most accurately to Israel’s settlement policies and systematic destruction of Palestinian communities. On this, the Dalai Lama seems silent. Demonstrators don’t wave flags for bulldozed homes, destroyed orchards, or dead Palestinian children. The Chinese Context The Chinese government is responsible for the well-being and security of one-fourth of humanity. Race riots and rebellion cannot be tolerated, not even when done by Buddhist monks. Chinese Civilization was already old when the Egyptians began building pyramids. But the last 200 years have not gone well, what with two Opium Wars forcing China to import drugs, and Europeans seizing coastal ports as a step to complete colonial control, then the Boxer Rebellion, the collapse of the Manchu Dynasty, civil war, a brutal invasion and occupation by Japan, more civil war, then Communist consolidation and transformation of society, then Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Such events caused tens of millions of people to die. Thus, China’s recent history has good reasons why social order is a higher priority than individual rights. Race riots and rebellion cannot be tolerated. Considering this context, China’s treatment of its minorities has been exemplary compared to what the Western world has done to its minorities. After thousands of years of Chinese dominance, there still are more than 50 minorities in China. After a few hundred years of European dominance in North and South America, the original minority cultures have been exterminated, damaged, or diminished. Chinese currency carries five languages: Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, Uigur, and Zhuang. In comparison, Canadian currency carries English and French, but no Cree or Inuktitut. If the USA were as considerate of ethnic minorities as is China, then the greenback would be written in English, Spanish, Cherokee and Hawaiian. In China, ethnic minorities begin their primary schooling in their own language, in a school administered by one of their own community. Chinese language instruction is not introduced until age 10 or later. This is in sharp contrast to a history of coerced linguistic assimilation in most Western nations. The Australian government recently apologized to the Aboriginal minority for taking children from their families, forcing them to speak English, beating them if they spoke their mother tongue. China has no need to make such apology to Tibetans or to other minorities. China’s one-child-policy seems oppressive to Westerners, but it has not applied to minorities, only to the Han Chinese. Tibetans can have as many children as they choose. If Han people have more than one child, they are punished. There is a similar preference given to minorities when it comes to admission to universities. For example, Tibetan students enter China’s elite Peking University with lower exam scores than Han Chinese students. China is not a perfect nation, but on matters of minority rights, it has been better than most Western nations. And China achieved this in the historical context of restoring itself and recovering from 200 years of continual crisis and foreign invasion. Historical Claims National boundaries are not natural. They all arise from history, and all history is disputable. Arguments and evidence can always be found to challenge a boundary. China has long claimed Tibet as part of its territory, though that has been hard to enforce during the past 200 years. The Dalai Lama does not dispute China’s claim to Tibet. The recent race riots in Tibet and the anti-Olympics demonstrations will not cause China to shrink itself and abandon part of its territory. Rioters and demonstrators know that. Foreign governments promoting Tibet separatism and demonstrators demanding Tibet independence should look closer to home. Canadians can campaign for Québec libre. Americans can support separatists in Puerto Rico, Vermont, Texas, California, Hawaii, Guam, and Alaska. Brits can work for a free Wales, and Scotland for the Scots. French can help free Tahitians, New Caledonians, Corsicans, and the Basques. Spaniards can also back the Basques, or the Catalonians. Italians can help Sicilian separatists or the Northern League. Danes can free the Faeroe Islands. Poles can back Cashubians. Japanese can help Okinawan separatists, and Filipinos can help the Moros. Thai can promote Patanni independence; Indonesians can promote Acehnese independence. New Zealanders can leave the islands to the Maori; Australians can vacate Papua. Sri Lankans can help Tamil separatists; Indians can help Sikh separatists. Nearly every nation has a separatist movement of some kind. There is no need to go to Tibet, to the top of the world, to promote ethnic separatism. China is not promoting separatism in other nations and does not appreciate other nations promoting separatism in China. The people most oppressed, most needing a nation of their own, are the Palestinians. There is a worthy project to promote and to demonstrate about. Danger of Demonstrations These demonstrations do not serve Tibetans, but rather use Tibetans for ulterior motives. Many Tibetans, therefore, oppose these demonstrations. Many Chinese remember their history and see the riots in Lhasa and subsequent demonstrations as another attempt by foreign powers to dismember and weaken China. There is grave danger that Chinese might come to fear Tibetans as traitors, resulting in wide spread anti-Tibetan feelings in China. Fear that an ethnic minority serves foreign forces caused Canada, during World War 1, to imprison its Ukranian minority in concentration camps. For similar reasons, the Ottomans deported their Armenian minority and killed more than a million in death marches. The German Nazis saw the Jewish minority as traitors who caused defeat in World War 1; hence deportations in the 1930s and death camps in the 1940s. During World War 2, both Canada and the USA feared that their Japanese immigrant minorities were traitorous and deported them to concentration camps. Indonesians fearing their Chinese minority, deported 100,000 in 1959 and killed thousands more in 1965. Israel similarly fears its Arab minority, resulting in deportations and oppression. Hopefully, the Chinese government and the Chinese people will see Tibetans as victims of foreign powers rather than agents of foreign powers. However, if China reacts like other nations have in history and starts systematic severe repression of Tibetans, then today’s demonstrators should remember their role in causing that to happen. Conclusion The demonstrators now disparaging China serve only to distract themselves and others from seeing and correcting the current failings of their own governments. If the demonstrators will take a moment to listen, they will hear the silence of their own hypocrisy. The consequences of these demonstrations are 1) China will stiffen its resolve to find foreign influences inciting Tibetans to riot, and 2) the governments of the USA, UK, France and other Western nations will have less domestic criticism for a few weeks. That is all. These demonstrations can come to no good end. Floyd Rudmin can be contacted by email at Floyd.Rudmin@psyk.uit.no

Outcry over a Peanut

There is huge opposition and outcry in Europe over the proposal to pay the EU President a colossal salary of S$580K a year! Now, what are these Europeans thinking? Their EU President not even worth a peanut? Who else can also be called a peanut president or a peanut PM? George Bush is paid S$670k, slightly more than a peanut. Gordon Brown is paid S$521k, slightly less than a peanut. The French President, Sarkozy, a mere S$469k, can't even qualify as a peanut. The rest of the world, nothing worth talking about. All less than a peanut president and PMs.