The new agenda

Worst recession is coming, tighten belt, prepare for more retrenchment. And the new catchphrase is frugality. The Ah Sohs have been interviewed and appeared on TV talking about cutting down on their expenses, checking prices and go for the cheapest food stuff. Everyone is worried and is saving every cent they could. What, a few months back we were clapping and cheering that we are living in our golden years. Or was it a golden mirage? Why everything is so gloomy and dark? Don't be deceived by such thoughts. Many are still buying the new Ferrari or Lamborghini or the new pleasure boat just because it is a new model. And they already have a few in their garages or in the marina clubs. Many are living the Swiss standard of living and all these little increases in petrol or rice is of no significance. It only affects the Ah Peks and Ah Sohs in the hardlands. While we should be happy for those who are having a good time, lets do something for these hardlanders when living is really going to get worst. What is the point of saving a few cents or a few dollars when one admission into a hospital could wipe out their life savings? Why still insist that people must pay for the most expensive wards that they are deemed to be able to afford? Lets be frugal. Frugality is good. Lets put it into practice. People who want to save every cent must be encouraged to do so. Provide more C wards and do away with the mean thing.

Defending Kan Seng

The divide between cyberspace and msm is stark. One is outright in demanding that Kan Seng accepts full responsibility and resign. The other is saying that he should not take the blame and should stay on, be given a second chance. I just did a straw poll on ST readers and 78% supported Kan Seng to stay on. 11% said he should do the honourable thing to resign. And 11% said someone should resign but not necessary Kan Seng. My straw poll is from the comments of 9 people appearing in the ST. Take it with a pinch of salt. What about the kopitiams and the private talks? Generally many were very cynical about the whole affair and their stand, though not saying much, is more for someone high up to take the rap. What is surprising is that in Parliament seatings, no one spoke out in defence of Kan Seng except for Hsien Loong. Other than those who asked uncomfortable questions, the rest were just too shock to take a stand. From ministers to MPs, their position as to whether Kan Seng should or should not resign was a complete silence. Perhaps some of you may read somewhere that there were MPs or Ministers who spoke out for Kan Seng. No one seems to be able to 'cho swee swee' and come out with an amicable position to please the public outrage, I mean the internet outrage, and at the same time leaving Kan Seng where he is. The position of msm at this point, when the heat is at its worst, to come out with a stand like Chua Lee Hoong, only helped to antagonise those who want to see Kan Seng's resignation. It is better to let the heat subside a little, when tempers are less likely to flare before saying something to the contrary. Sometimes not saying anything is better than adding fuel to the fire.

Hishamuddin apologises

After one and a half months of soul searching, think he found his soul, Hishamuddin apologised for his antics in keris kissing. He could not believe that kissing a keris can be so deadly, that it will cause the downfall of UMNO. He explained that his apology to the non Malays, 'for being frightened of a symbol, which was not my intention.' And to the Malays, 'for not being able to defend a heritage symbol.' So the reason for the kissing of the keris was only to defend a heritage symbol and nothing else. And when asked if he will kiss the keris again, he said he could not guarantee that he would not do it again. Next week 100 Malay organisations will hold a conference to defend Malay rights in Johore Bahru.

We cannot raise your salary

I mean we cannot raise the workers' salary to meet the rising cost of living. Everything is going up but your salary cannot go up. We will lose our competitiveness. The no jobs how? And your problem? What's your problem? Oh, money not enough. Then you should think of ways to make money enough. Buy cheaper stuff, tighten belt, eat lesser, spend lesser, stay at home, don't bathe and save water. Or learn from Redbean, eat instant noodles and 3 in 1, housebrand is better and cheaper.

Diversity is bad at national level

I notice this interesting quote in the ST this morning. 'The incongruity of posting an apology in Chinese to viewers of a wholly Tamil programme appears to have been lost on the service provider.' Narayana Narayana was reacting to Starhub's apology in English and a translation in Chinese for a breakdown of a Tamil programme in SunTV Channel 29. I agree that Tamil do not read Chinese and it is nonsensical to use a Chinese translation for this. Of course the stubborn would argue that some Chinese also watch Tamil programme. The point I am pushing is that in the future, any breakdown of programme in Channel 8 will be accompanied by apologies in Hokien,Cantonese, Hakka, Teochew etc etc. if we are not careful. And as we bring in more foreigners, they too will demand to be recognised. This is the problem that we must be careful not to for into. It would be better to have lesser differences and seek a common ground than to accentuate our differences and pander to ethnic and racial emotions and sympathies. It will lead to greater problems in the future. We must put an end to all the calls to cater for all the differences of ethnic groups. Staying on with 4 official languages is already too much of a problem. Anything more is like opening a can of worms. Just keep such interests within talking cock sessions at home or in private. The individuals can do what they want at their own time and expenses. The state shall not be a party for such digression.

Mas escape nothing crucial

Chua Lee Hoong's article this morning said that there were more crucial issues than the escape. So let's move on and stop bugging Kan Seng. She took to task all the abuses and indiscriminate and unwarranted calls in cyberspace for Kan Seng to resign. And this is how she justified her stand. The buck must stop somewhere, otherwise we will have no ministers left in no time. I must agree on this if the frequency of mistakes is going to grow. Or I can disagree as the ministers and all the supertalents will not allow mistakes like this to happen. 'But the Mas Selamat escape? What loss has there been, except that of face - mostly?' I never thought that people are seeing this from the angle of losing face. And no loss? Would the loss of a dangerous terrorist that wanted to bomb an SIA plane be something? According to Chua Lee Hoong, Mas is not a homicidal maniac, and would not be a danger to the Singapore public. OK I agree. Then he should not be in the detention centre in the first place. And there is no need to mount an island wide search for more than a month. How many manhours were involved, the cost of mounting the search and the collateral damage of inconveniencing people and businesses and the loss of businesses. The best part of her article is this para. 'The escape has been a big stain on the reputation of the MHA. But it has been a lesser stain on the reputation of Singapore. We hold ourselves as more infallible than the world holds us. If you talk to businessmen and investors, the escape has been no more than an interesting interlude, with no impact on their business decisions.' This I fully agree with her. It is so interesting and amusing. Now why is everyone getting so excited about this interesting interlude and went to Parliament to challenge Kan Seng, and so many red faces? I must call for an immediate stand down to all the searches and all the nonsense appearing in cyberspace. Should anyone blame the msm for making a mole hill out of this interesting and not crucial interlude?

An interesting discovery on the mysterious escape

One interesting point that I gather from yesterday's article by Teh Joo Lin and Chong Chee Kin is that they did not know which route he took to escape. There was no evidence in the scene to confirm anything. According to American crime scene expert Gary Rini, 'endless possibilities of forensic evidence could remain at a scene, including hair, fibres, fingerprints, DNA and footprints.' And he 'was puzzled by the lack of forensic evidence but said that the question was how soon the team had been called in.' So did he or did he not escaped? Or how did he escape? The CCTV, the silent sentinel could not say anything. The escape may be answered by the discovery of his baju kurung in the forest. So Mas Selamat first took out his pants, then his baju kurung. He must be running around naked. Could he be wearing two layers of clothing and the gurkhas or any of the officers could not notice this? Just try to put on two shirts and two pants and you will get an obvious answer immediately. Is this an exercise to test the gullibility of Singaporeans?

The fear of the uncertain future

'A Malaysian friend from the state of Selangor just told me that he had been pleasantly surprised at the way that the general elections had turned out. ”For years we were told that if the opposition came into power, there would be chaos and bloodshed, that they’re troublemakers,” he said. For fear of instability, he – and his family – had always voted for the governing alliance – Barisan Nasional (BN) – including in the most recent election. He had done so despite realising that BN was doing a lousy job, he added. “Fear of trouble made us shun the opposition. Now we know better.” The picture in the immediate aftermath has turned out surprisingly well. No one, of course, can predict the future, ....' The above are extracts from an article by Seah Chiang Nee in www.littlespeck.com. He was discussing the recent Malaysian GE and its aftermath. Singaporeans have also been told of a similar situation should the opposition wins and form a new govt. There will be trouble, investors will flee because of the uncertainties, instability will take over, Singapore women folks will become maids in other countries. And of course the unspoken, the opposition will be bad govt and will squander the countries savings away, ie our CPF savings. So the only right thing to do for kiasu and kiasi Singaporeans is to vote for the same party and govt to ensure continuity, stability and prosperity,...and no trouble.

Notable quote by Chua Mui Hoong

'Sometimes...the harder course is to face down the calls to resign, stay put - and win the war.' Chua Mui Hoong Chua Mui Hoong mentioned the above quote when comparing British Defence Secretaty Joh Nott who offered to resign during the Falkland War, actually recolonisation of the Falklands, with the call for Kan Seng to resign. All CEOs who are getting multi million dollar salary should frame this up and hang it in their offices just in case. It is a good piece of pragmatic advice.

Move over Mas Selamat

The most search name in cyberspace is now Wong Kan Seng. The name has knocked Mas Selamat to second place. And printing firms have been receiving orders to print photos of Wong Kan Seng onto T shirts and mugs for sale. We now have another cult personality that is bigger than mediacorp stars.

A little uneasiness

This is what I heard after a tree planting day. A little special tree would be chosen for a minister to hold a spade or a pail of water for photo shooting. After that a little plague would be placed beside the young tree saying, 'This tree was planted by Minister Bu Zhang on 25 April 2008.' Ah Goo actually dug the hole. Ahmad carried the young tree from the nursery and Muthu did all the watering. Now the three were unhappy. They want their names on the plague also. They want the plague to read, 'This tree was planted by Minister Bu Zhang and Ah Goo, Ahmad and Muthu on 25 April 2008.' They all want to share a little credit for doing the actual work. Never mind that their names come after the minister.

The Gurkhas

There is an article in the ST today about the Maoist govt in Nepal and a new policy on not allowing gurkhas to serve in foreign countries as mercenaries. It also told about the fearless, courageous and loyal traits of the gurkhas. One thing it missed is that gurkhas made poor guards. They are good fighting soldiers, but behave like school boys when on guard duties. When something happens, they will run to the teacher and ask what to do. They do not know how to react on the spot. They are unthinking, only good at taking orders. It is proven in the Mas Selamat case. They did not know that the basic rule in guarding dangerous prisoners is not to let them out of sight. Never. But they did. The gurkhas should be deployed only in the battle fields to do combat.

What is $5 mil?

Do we want Selamat back? Yes? Do we want him back badly? Yes...No? For a mere $5 mil, the whole world will be searching for him. Why are we stinging on this little money? Not our policy! We have not done that. It was not our policy to have casinos. It was not our policy to pay ministers in millions. It was not our policy to be a welfare state. What else is not our policy or was not our policy? I Selamat is that dangerous, think of the damages that he can cause. A mere $5 mil is small change and very good value for money. The two months of search for Selamat must have gone past that amount.

The sacrificial lamb

The COI Report is a statement of failure. It is an open admission that the people managing the detention centre are amateurish, idiots, untrained, unthinking and simply did not know what they were doing. And the centre is designed to assist detainees to escape. It is that bad. Why would such a blatant admission of fault be made public? Who is the one who paid the heaviest price as the guilty party? Who is the sacrificial lamb? Some called the report bold, some horrendous. It was a revelation of an unpleasant truth that is waiting to be told, of a system that is failing but still believes that it is the best. Like the NKF, it is a miniature replica of the failure of a larger system. A system built on the belief that everyone is supertalent and need to be paid like superman. Maybe I am wrong. There are many supermen and superwomen, but all flying around in the cloud nine. At ground zero, it is another world. The world of the peasants and workers who are good enough to tighten belt everyday and with a head that is as empty as their stomach.

Singaporeans are control freaks

We are crazy in this area. We want to control everything. And if we are not controlling others, we want others to control us. We cannot leave things alone. There must be rules and regulations to guide our life. The internet is formless and without boundary. It is literary in vitual space. It is only a little more than what is in our mind, our thoughts, because of the network it resides in, the server and memory disc. Why then should it be regulated? Why is it that Singaporeans expect that it should be regulated? And why ask for it? This is a wrong premise to start with. Asking to be controlled is conceding that it should be controlled. There are enough rules and regulations, laws etc to manage our life. Slanders, libels, mischiefs, frauds, vandalism, whatever, in cyberspace can land one in the court of law. Cyberspace should be left alone as it its. Caveat emptor, the bloggers or forumers are owners of their posts and responsible for themselves. Let the offenders and offended parties track down the culprits and bring them to the court. It will be another lucratic economic activity for the business minded. My view is to leave cyberspace alone. There is no need for additional rules and regulations. Cyberspace has no physical footprint, no territorial space, and should be that way. We must remove this control mentality in us. Why allow people to control us? Is it so good to be controlled? Actually cyberspace cannot be controlled. At best one can blog out the site or go after the owner by tracking him down if he violates any existing laws. Do we want people to control our thoughts?

What an Editorial piece!

TOC Editorial: Government’s lack of accountability bad for the PAP, worse for Singapore Posted by theonlinecitizen on April 23, 2008 The above TOC article is something that the msm cannot match. It has so much bite and so much common sense. If cyberspace is going to keep churning out articles like that, who would still bother to read the msm?

Crisis in leadership

We went through the NKF fiasco quite successfully. When the issue was in the open, Boon Wan quite decisively made a statement that no one will be spared. The message was clear that the wrong doers would be dealt with. They were dealt with. There were attempts to link it to the govt as a failure to prevent it from coming. But this did not hit off as the line was clear, a NGO charitable organisation. The current crisis is about the Home Ministry. There was a moment when no one was sure where it would lead to. Now the target is Kan Seng. There is even a petition calling for his resignation. A reminder of what happened in the NKF crisis. The subsequent events, the way the COI was delivered in Parliament, were not received well. It was the fault of the window, it was the fault of the Gurkhas, the poor design of the detention centre and many other lapses. Yes, a confluence of failures that led to the escape. It gave the impression that Kan Seng was a third party looking into the matter. And this was noticed earlier when the COI was formed. The Home Ministry investigating its own affair, unlike the Health Ministry investigating the wrongdoings of NKF. Wonder if it would help if Kan Seng had said, it was my men, my ministry that committed the lapses. Anyway, when Hsien Loong absolved Kan Seng and stopped the buck at the detention centre, the reaction was kind of a, what's that? The scene shifted. It is now a leadership issue. Would this issue develop into a full blown leadership crisis? The tension on the ground is simmering. This could be worst than the NKF crisis. I think damage control is in operation. I just browse through this morning's Today paper and there was not a single news on the issue. The silence is very telling.

A new era of cooperation

The wind of change is blowing strong, and positively. Abdullah is pondering on the possibility of cooperating with the opposition. Why not, 'If there is no clash in policies, then perhaps it opens the way to cooperate.' He said. This is in response to the opposition offering Gerakan's Lee Kah Choon to head two opposition run development and investment organisations in Penang. The conciliatory gestures are healthy for democracy and the increasing maturing of a polity and the politicians. Politicians can clash during election on issues, but can still work together. In fact this is the basis on which democracy is supposed to work. Confrontation and vindictive politiking belong to third world countries when the rulers are basically thugs or mafia chieftains.

Witch hunt for scape goat

In Chua Mui Hoong's article she mentioned that the govt has accepted responsibility for the Mas Selamat escape and went on to discuss the virtues or correctness of pin pointing the one who is responsible for the escape. Who is culpable, who is to be blamed, who actually contributed to mistake or failure? What it finally boils down to is that the person who is directly involved in the issue should be held accountable. Those higher up, who are at a distance, who are not directly involved, should not be dragged in and be held accountable. Given this line of reasoning, the govt should not even accept responsibility for the escape. The people to be held accountable should be the guards, the people designing the detention centre and managing the detention centre. The rest of the govt has nothing to do with in. It is meaningless to accept responsibility without accountability. And it is wrong to accept responsibility when one is not involved or remote from the incident.

Lack of talent in Opposition

The Mas Selamat case is a golden opportunity for the opposition to score whatever points they want in Parliament. Unfortunately their performance so far is very unflattering. The best opposition came in the form of Inderjit Singh, who was able to ask some meaningful questions quite forcefully. I must say that I am very disappointed. How could the whole embarrassing episode get by and the opposition could not even make a small dent on the govt? And they had to shield their eyes in the face of a few glares. The lack of talent in the opposition camp to rise to the occasion is very telling.