A brave 9 year old

The 9 year old boy was not only brave, but sexually mature for his age. He initiated a discussion on sex with his 36 year old man tutor. And when the man went into the toilet, he pushed open the toilet door to have oral sex with him. The man was like a defenceless victim being pursued by an aggressive sex predator. The helpless victim was found guilty for not warding off the advances of the 9 year boy and was sentenced to 6 years jail and 6 strokes of the cane. Ouch, I thought he was being raped and the rapist was being jailed and caned. This whole episode in today's paper is so confusing. Who was the victim? Was the act so horrendous to deserve 6 years of jail and 6 strokes of caning? And actually there were two willing partners who were not trying to hurt or harm each other. I am very perplexed. What if the victim was a 36 year old woman? Still a crime for sex with a juvenile. But what would be the punishment?

Signs of cracks coming to the open

“I hope branch leaders do not make statements that they do not like Singaporeans investing here. “We must be consistent with our signals both from the top and bottom. What is the difference of an investor from the United States or Singapore? There is no difference actually. “We cannot be carried away with emotions or be parochial as we must realise that we are in the 21st century and the country must be developed,” Najib said.... These are clear signs that opposition towards Najib's policy to bring Malaysia to the 21st Century, to become a competitive country like the rest of the developing world, is meeting strong resistance. There must be some quarters trying very hard to derail what he is doing. And UMNO Johore seems to be a good candidate especially when there are so many issues that can be stirred. The railway station issue, crooked bridge issue and the Iskandar DR are still works in progress. Having been kept and held back for so many years with tribal and communal politics and mindset, it is not easy to bring them forward to see the new world. The medieval forces are as strong as the forces of modernisation. Singaporean investors will be more worried of their investments in IDR and how long Najib will last. And as the investments are going to be long term, what's next or who's next after Najib?

More radicals arrested

The Home Affairs Ministry has announced a few more arrests of radicals last week and Kan Seng is urging the communities and families to report on their kins when they are suspicious of their conduct. This is a tall order indeed. The families, religious leaders, schools etc should keep educating the people to keep this place safe and peaceful for everyone here. The citizens and residents must be free to work, play and go about their lives with no fear of a destructive terrorist attack. It is for the good of everyone. Families and religious leaders should talk to their own people on how important it is to keep this place safe. This is our home. And if they detect any wayward tendencies or behaviors, perhaps they should take the first step to talk the person out of it. This may be easier than reporting them. Should this fail, then for the good of the family and country, they should do the necessary and report them. Failing to do so can hurt many innocent people very badly. Our lives and jobs will be in ruins.

Pay more for more benefits

We have heard the impossible, that is, pay more GST to help the poor. Now we are being told that paying more for public transport will benefit the commuters. They will see the benefits later. And after all the increase is only $16 per year. And I know that I am paying $89 more annually as an oldie instead of $16. I know because I am paying for it. How come they claimed that it was on $16 more per year! I am now paying 34c more daily. No need to use computer or abacus to count how much more I will have to pay. The only thing to look forward to now is more benefits coming my way. Wondering what that would be. One thing for sure, the base is higher and if any future increases on a percentage basis will be from a bigger base. It is reported in the paper today that under the old system it was the commuters who needed to transfer that were subsidising those who did not have to. So now it is those who do not need to transfer will be subsidising those who need to transfer. Very fair huh. I posted earlier that those who don't have to transfer will now have to subsidise those needing transfer. So I am wrong huh.

Instant trees and instant 3 in 1

The application of instant tree principle in our social, economic and political structure has brought about rapid growth and, of course instant prosperity. We have instant population and citizens to provide the necessary workforce for a growing economy, leading to glowing economic growth data and culminating in instant wealth, big bonuses and big spending power. Removing the instant population from the equation and we will have instant recession or stagnation, no growth to talk about. Not enough labour, not enough demand for housing and public services, and not enough inflow of foreign capital and skills. All this is good provided the integration is robust and lasting in nature. In fine weather there seems to be no flaws in this strategy of growth. Other than the issue of sustainability, meaning that we continue to add on more people into the island forever, for never ending growth, the signs of stress are emerging. The recent spate of thunderstorms and floodings are reminders of how fragile is this dependency on instant trees. The rapid economic development does not allow the soil to settle, so to speak, in a gradual and natural way as in nature. Instant trees are tumbling and uprooting at the slightest adversed weather in greater numbers. They have discovered the big secret, that instant trees have shallow and weak roots. These, couple with weather and loose soil, were the causes of fallen trees. And naturally they brought about damages and destruction of lives and properties in the process. Our instant population are not much different from our instant trees. Uprooting and falling in bad weather will be a common feature in the time to come. Their instant departure in big numbers can be more destructive than a few fallen trees.

Stop provoking the North Koreans

The Americans and South Koreans should stop their provocations against North Korea. Both have been raising tension in the Korean peninsula since the sinking of the Choenan which they accused the North of committing the act. They held their private investigation and ran a kangaroo court to pronounce the North Koreans guilty without allowing them any chance to prove their innocence nor allowing the North Koreans to review the evidence. And they kept on mounting pressure on the North Koreans, threatening sanctions, war games and punishing the North which history could one day prove that the real culprits to the sinking of Choenan could be the Americans and South Koreans themselves. Their latest act is to announce war games near the waters of North Korea and China. China is infuriated and is warning the US and South Korea from holding such military exercises near its territorial waters. The true provocateurs are still pointing the fingers at the North. After the big lies they spun and was proven wrong in the WMD incident in Iraq, the Americans have recently admitted that they had wrongly accused the North Koreans of conducting a cyber attack against Americans and South Korean organisations. The same proof were there where Korean language were detected in the cyber attack. The American/South Koreans also found Korean words written on the supposedly torpedo they recovered from the sea. The same evidence was rejected by one of their South Korean marine expert claiming that it was a fabricated evidence. At the UN, it was fortunate that it stood on its ground not to be taken in by the Ameican/South Korean accusation that the North was guilty of the Choenan sinking. It would be tragic if the UN were coerced by the Ameicans/South Koreans to accept their fabricated truth without doing their own investigations. The UN simply condemned the sinking giving it room to look at the evidence and their own investigation if allowed to. Meanwhile the two provocateurs continue to raise tension in the Korean peninsula with the silly South Koreans thinking that they are going to a dinner party when death and disasters to their country and people were theirs to bear. The American has been very successful since the end of WW2 in their strategy of starting fires around the world, accusing countries of human rights violation, war crimes, weapons sales and proliferation, which they themselves were the biggest culprit, and let these become problems everywhere except in Ameican territories. There were also at their best in instigating and supporting irredentist and separatist movements of other countries.

Goreng Octopus

The Octopus that predicted Germany's lost to Spain will soon be on the dinner table, Goreng. No, his sin was not the World Cup prediction. Someone has borrowed his clairvoyance skill to predict the result of the next General Election in Singapore. Guess what, he predicted that the opposition wins: )

Insurance cheats rounded up

A gang of motor insurance cheats were arrested and would be charged in court. The mastermind was on the run and living in tents in parks and beaches before finally surrendering himself to the police. This gang, 16 of them, was supposed to have cheated more than $100k in claims, forging injury etc. I hope among those arrested will be the medical and legal professionals who assisted in forging medical and legal reports. The fact that this group only cheated about $100k also tells us that this is a small fry and there are many bigger fries out there that have escaped the dragnet. The motor insurance industry has claimed to have been cheated of several hundred millions in claims. What is $100k? In the meantime the losses were passed to the motorists who see their insurance premiums just going one way, like many other things here, up, up and away. And it was not even the motorists faults. Just pass the buck to the consumers.

Going the Third World Way

A girl was attacked inside a bus for half an hour by a man. Everyone just looked. When one passenger picked up the courage to ask the driver to stop the bus and call the police, driver's reply was that he must drive on, his duty as a bus driver. At the end of it, the attacker just walked away leaving behind a badly beaten girl. This is how our society has progressed. To each his own. Take care of yourself, don't get into trouble, don't be kaypoh. Maybe the girl was one of a few locals in the bus and the rest were foreigners who were afraid to do anything in a foreign country. It is quite expected for strangers to be hesistant about such things. We are First World: ) This is only a rare incident. Would not happen again. No need to have sleepless night over it. More important is to think about courtesy campaign and being nice to foreigners, to work hard and to upgrade.

Hefty fare hike and social injustice

What is so wrong about this hefty fare hike? In other countries, a hike of 10% could have demonstrations in the streets with buildings burnt. In this case, many are facing a hike of 40% to 50% and nothing happens. And those who claimed to be looking after the interest of the people also continue to remain mute. It is social injustice in the first order. Some cock decided to take money from some commuters to pay for other commuters. Get that? Can you believe it? And worst, they went after the oldies who are too weak to fight back, toothless and have no bite, and so poor that going to Speakers Corner will become so expensive that they will rather stay at home. And the no income students also have to bear the brunt of this hike. And some cock got the cheek to say, pay first lah, we will see how much we have over profitted and do adjustment later. Don't worry, trust me, we are fair and looking after the good of the commuters. Someone should tell these fuckers that they are not god and cannot rob from one person to give it to another. This is what we get in a pretentious First World with Third World Thinking people. Just take from whoever that cannot fight back. And they cannot fight back. And no one will fight for them. They are just helpless. Thank god, this is paradise.

Fare reduction on public transport

Effective on 3 Jul 10, commuters could be paying lesser when taking public transport. This was the great news reported a few months back. On 3 Jul, many commuters wecrying foul, angry, that instead of paying less, they were paying more, some by as much as 50%. This scheme of fare cut was like robbing Peter to pay Paul. Commuters who have to switch services will pay a little lesser. This will be subsidised by those who need not change services and this group will have to pay much more. Actually it is like robbing grandpa and grandma, and school going children to pay for the savings of those that need to switch services. This is indeed a well thought out plan by our supertalents. Simply brilliant. Can't be better.

Pay cut for Singaporeans

Singaporeans who are taking public transport are effectively getting a pay cut. And the most hurt are the oldies, the senior citizens, who now have to pay as much as 1.05 from 68c according to an oldie. This is a whopping 54% increase in fare. Holycow, they don't give a damn about the oldies where quite a big number are cleaners and daily rated workers earning less than $1000 pm. At an increase of 37c per trip or 74c daily, times 22 days, this will work out to be $16.28 a month. I know that this is at most equivalent to 5 plates of char kway teow and people can laugh it off, but if the oldie's income is $1000 pm it is a pay cut of 1.6%. And if the pay is $500 pm, it is 3.55% pay cut. I am not sure how much more will the students be paying. If each student is paying half of the increase the oldies are paying, and if they happen to be the children of the oldies, two school going children could mean another 2% pay cut. Just too bad. The transport operators need to subsidise those commuters who have to transfer from one service to another, and the oldies/students just happen to be there to do the subsidising. I am sure the Public Transport Council who approved this great scheme must have thought through all these issues and are comfortable with it. I hope with all the supertalents working on it, they are not going to say they did not know how it would impact the oldies and students.

Another dangerous scheme brewing

The ERPs and COEs were designed to control the number of cars on the road and to ensure that traffic flow in the highways is smooth and of an acceptable speed. Looks like these objectives are going to be forgotten soon with the thought of using satellites to monitor cars on the road, for effective and efficient collection of revenue. Now the thinking seems to be on how to charge motorists for road usage. Does this mean that motorists will be charged regardless of whether they are travelling in the highways or in little roads in the estates or in Kranji or Sembawang? Hey, driving inside the HDB may also be charged if we are not careful. So, motorists not causing congestion, or trying to take smaller roads, travelling longer distances, will not escape the dragnet. I am seeing the goal posts wavering as if they are going to be moved.

Fare cut to fare increase!

A few months ago it was reported loudly that there will be a fare cut in public transport when the new system kicks in. Only a few will suffer a little increase. It has since kicked in and this is what was reported in CNA. Source: Channel News Asia, 05 July 2010 SINGAPORE: Monday was the first work-day after the public transport operators started calculating bus fares based on distance travelled on 3 July. Those travelling to Malaysia by bus were in for a surprise. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has said that under the new system, one in three commuters would see a fare increase. For those affected, LTA estimates the average weekly fare rise to be about 30 cents per commuter. However some commuters have called the Channel NewsAsia hotline, saying the fare for the journey from Kranji MRT Station to Johor is up by 40 percent – from $1 to $1.40....

Becoming Third World

We were not only having Third World Thinking, we are becoming Third World. We used to be First World for many years in the sense that everything works. Turn on the tap and there is drinking water. Press on the switch and there is light. The trains and buses ply the roads regularly. The traffic lights work. People go to work on time and return home on time. Streets are clean and there is social order. We took all these things for granted. We were First World and these are expected. Recently we have floods everywhere on increasing frequency with a little rain. We used to have heavy thunder storms for hours. We have fallen trees, pedestrain bridge knocked by crane, and serious traffic jams. And our biggest bank suffered a serious glitch when its computer system gone down for hours. The standby system didn't work as well. This time no one was caught off guarded. It was unexpected. Where do we go from here? Can we still take it for granted that everything works? Or are we going back to the Third World? We would have arrived there if we see people clinging tightly to buses and trains, hanging outside the doors and windows. We are approaching there when the trains and buses hit their crushed load. And we would be there if our women folks become maids in neighbouring countries. Don't worry. We won't go back there. These are minor glitches and would not happen again. Everytime when any such things happened, there will be a thorough investigation to fix it. They will not be allowed to be repeated. We are First World after all. But don't be complacent and take things for granted.

Arm crushed for theft

I received this photo of an 8 year old boy being punished for stealing. Following photos showed his arm being crushed by the wheel of the car. I just hope that this is fiction. Definitely it was not a miracle show on how powerful is the arm of the boy which looks even younger than 6.

Singaporeans need to reclaim their country

Unhappy Singaporeans are talking about taking back control of their country, to decide what and where they want the country to go. Taking back the country would mean changing the policies to favour Singaporeans, like the number of foreigners in the country, housing prices, taking back their money in CPF, among many other things. The importance of taking back control of our own country is becoming more important and of greater urgency. And the next GE could be a time of reckoning and tough decision making. Failing to take back control of the country would mean another 5 years of policies that they are unhappy with. The above are views and expressions of unhappy Singaporeans in some quarters. The happy Singaporeans will definitely want the status quo to continue. The ratio of happy and unhappy Singaporeans is anyone’s guess. From past records, the number of unhappy Singaporeans translated into votes for the opposition, for a new party in power, was low. Is it because of the lack of option or could it also mean that the number of unhappy Singaporeans is in fact small. Who knows better?

Thinking Third World

Unconsciously or consciously we have quietly been sliding down the road to Third World and expecting the people to live with it. Our streets are dirtier, our shopping centres, places of interests, places where families gathered or socialised, are filled with Third World people with Third World habits, mannerism and antics. In contrast, we built the finest buildings, theatres to be a bit snooty like upper class gentries and aristocrats and ignore the parallel existence of the other world. What is disgusting is that the snooty upper class is barricading themselves in upper class comfort and niceties and telling the lower class to live with it. The crush in the MRT trains is a good example of what this upper class' Third World mentality is all about. Only in the mentality of the Third World is being squeezed like sardines in public transport found acceptable. The situations in Tokyo, Beijing and Hongkong are Third World standards of commuting. It is a shame to think that they are world class. They have made many advances, but treating their citizens by shoving them into little tubes is definitely not worth emulating. They are bad examples. Only in the Third World that commuters needed to be crushed, to hang and dangle outside buses and trains, clinging dangerously to get from point to point. And excess baggages in the form of human beans could be moved to the roof of buses and trains. Would these be acceptable standards if the Japanese and Hongkongers practise them as well? A world class public transport system must be fit for first world people. Commuters must be able to dress to their nines to attend a concert by taking public transport, with room and space to feel cool and comfy. Look at the good examples of the old European rich societies and see what good living condition is all about. Australia with 22 million people living in a continent is feeling the squeeze. Here we are planning to squeeze in more Third World people into the little standing room we have. Or is our public transport system there to ferry Third World people who are expected to live like that, both foreigners and locals? The First World people here, both citizens and foreigners, shall enjoy their First World standard of living in their comfortable lifestyle and environment. The rest shall be grateful to share a bit of the comfort. Where did this Third World mentality originate?

Coming to terms with Communism

Communism was as good as Satan in the days of the Cold War. It was revolution and armed struggle to overthrow existing govts which were often dictatorships or colonial powers or decadent monarchies. The success of Communism in USSR and China was an affront to Western Imperialism and domination of the world stage. When hot wars could not be fought, Western powers resorted to Cold Wars. As a legacy of Western Powers and ruled by colonialists, we naturally took the side of the Western Imperialist and made Communism a national enemy. I am musing at the moment as writing a statement like this will reward me with a communist sympathiser badge to wear and probably a place behind the Blue Gate in the early years. The political climate has changed today. Communism has proven to be a failed economic and political model of govt. Communists and ex communists and their sympathisers are tolerated and to a certain extent accepted. Some countries have communist parties running in elections for the govt. The release of the Marxist Conspirators and the freedom granted to them mark the ending of one chapter of our political history. Why were the Communist so feared and ISD so zealous in the pursuit of this group of political activists? Other than the Cold War mentality and to be on the right side of Imperial West, Communism stands for the violent overthrown of incumbent govts. Armed struggle was their proclaimed modus operandi to power. Would our govt of today accept a communist party standing for election and accepting the electoral process of free election? What if a communist party declares in its manifesto that they renounce armed struggle and willing to play by the accepted rules and procedures? Would ISD still be relevant and set to go after them? ISD played a vital role in the early stages of our independence and political process. They were the front soldiers in the fight against a militant communist force challenging and attempting to be the govt of this country. The current govt and political system owe a lot to the role of ISD in removing the militant communist equation from our political process. With Communism in the wane, with armed struggle no longer an option to political parties, the role of ISD in quelling political unrest could be put to the back burner. Or should it continue to chase the shadow of a militant past? The threats to national security has taken a different form and possibility more violent and deadly. International terrorism, religious extremism, espionage etc will demand a lot of attention from ISD. They will have their hands full. Would there be a new role and priorities for ISD and would these divert their resources from internal political rivalry to the new threats to national security and survival?

Yesterday still got flood!

Flooding seems to be a regular occurrence nowadays. Every torrential rain of a couple of hours could see some area flooded. Yesterday was MacPherson and Tai Seng/Paya Lebar area. Where would it be today if it rains? This is bringing me back to the 1960s when flood was a common thing. Quite fun actually, with cars stalling in the middle of the roads.