South China Sea, an issue of US Commitment or Interference

Chua Chin Hon, ST’s Bureau Chief in Washington, wrote an article titled, ‘South China Sea issue a test of US Commitment’. The article can best be summed up as a western interpretation of events in South East and East Asia and the role of US to take charge as the undisputed Empire. It touched on how China was staking its claims to 80% of the South China Sea and how this would have rattled the littoral states. It took for granted the US position that 80% of the four oceans are part of their national interest without mentioning how the countries of the world would react to it. Then it pointed to the increasing Chinese military presence and drills as unacceptable developments while the huge military exercises of the American naval fleets in the East China Sea, Yellow Sea and South China Sea as how things should be. What is pertinent in the article is America’s leadership role in Asean. After Hilary Clinton’s attack on China’s position in the disputed South China Sea islands, which provoked a strong reaction from China, the Americans were quick to use this as an excuse to stake their claims to leadership in Asean and their role to lead Asean against China. As Ernest Bower of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies(CSIS) remarked, ‘If you rattle the cage with China like this and depart, you probably can’t be forgiven.’ And Bower added, ‘To be honest, there’s enough pressure now, particularly with the Chinese reaction, that it may require the Americans to take a leadership role (at this stage).’ This is exactly the intent of the Americans. Provoke a crisis situation and instigate the innocents to be a party to a dispute with the Americans as the undisputed leader. In Bower’s words, ‘I don’t see many Asean countries with the political courage to stand up and take the lead when the elephants are butting their heads.’ The Americans do not see the Asean countries capable of taking on the Chinese in a contentious situation when military is needed. Only they are capable of fighting a big country like China. Would the Asean states be dragged into a confrontation with China instigated by the Americans? The relationship between Asean and China has been one of diplomacy and peaceful negotiation. And Asean was and is able to take on China on an equal basis with no fear of China’s use of force. Would this stance be changed and Asean becoming another SEATO, an extended arm of the American Empire set to pitch against China in a military contest? Or would Asean be wise enough to steer clear of the American scheme of things and remain neutral and independent? The US is coveting a leadership role in Asean and this is the real issue, a test of Asean’s resilience and independence from big power domination. Has Asean been less effective over the years without carrying a mighty sword to the negotiating table and now see it necessary to have the backings of a superpower to conduct its dealings? Would Asean be goaded into a confrontation with China and turn Southeast Asia into a war torn region like the Middle East? This is what will likely to happen if the US is allowed to lead and dictate how Asean shall behave.

Notable Quote by Allan Snyder

‘I will be most distressed if my son comes back with a string of As. Going by my research, it would mean that he is probably not going to do anything exceptional.’ Allan Snyder, Director, Centre for the Mind, University of Sydney. Would words like these give comfort to our mothers and fathers of children without straight As and with some struggling at the bottom of the heap? I am no expert in education or predicting the future of children or assessing their potential. According to Snyder, his research shows that the champions and successful people have nothing to do with their academic achievements. Many have been very successful, even in technical and professional fields, without having straight As. Quite a number were drop outs from schools. The Americans have many luminaries in this category and so do we. Some billionaires in our midst would have been in the Normal Stream of our education system. The mystical thing is that their talents are not in the books. They are gifted or blessed to shine in different fields. How then can we persuade our parents to view things from a different perspective and not just straight As? Are there ways to change the mindset, change the branding and labelling, to accord recognition and acceptance of talents that are not academic geniuses but geniuses in their own rights in other fields? Where shall we start? We have been bungling with this notion of academic brilliance equals success and a good life, which is generally true but not the absolute truth. We need to take a different path, jump into the river or swim the ocean, to find ourself and our own meaning in life. Straight As will in all probability end up being a good civil servant, a good employee, and nothing spectacular. Many of the great inventions today came from non straight As students.

Aerial Photos of NDP

NDP Aerial Display

Just a few aerial pics of the NDP taken earlier.

National Day Message, A Retake

Every National Day is a time for reflection about what this country is all about. National Day brings to light the meaning of nation, and the perennial question being asked is whether we are a nation, or are we getting there. After 45 years of strenuous nation building exercises, sadly, we acknowledge that we are not getting near there. It is still a work in progress. Maybe this is a blessing. Why should we want to build a nation when we can have the best of both worlds? We can have the best people, the most successful people coming here to live in the best city modern history can provide, and we don’t have to be bothered with the responsibility of looking after incompetent and loser citizens who could not make the grade. Just simply tell them to go else where and the vacated place can be quickly filled up by more able and talented individuals who are hungrier and less demanding. An indirect way is to make the cost of living so high that they will quit voluntarily. Should we therefore be craving to build a nation? Or are we chasing a construct that is no longer relevant to a small city state? A hotel, a piece of prime land for those who can afford the best, with no obligations or commitments, no responsibility, run by a mercenary force of hardnosed businessmen should suffice. Let’s be real and pragmatic and reinvent ourselves. Ooops, ourselves is no longer relevant. There is no us or them. Only the board of directors of a prime estate offering its space for those who appreciate how well it is being run. No citizen to please, no need to plan for social security and cheap public services. Pay for what you get and pay to live here. Nothing is free. The present citizens can always opt out of the scheme, sell out, clear their CPF savings and move on. Let this be the last National Day and everything shall start anew on 10 August, no citizen, no NS, no govt services, no social services, no subsidies, no handouts, no entitlement mentality, no gripes. And no need to be bothered by unreasonable and demanding citizens. Ah, no need to build cheap public housing. Sell private properties only, to the highest bidder, to the one who can pay the highest market price. Welcome to the world’s Best Run Private Real Estate. PS. Of course I am talking cock. The difference is that I know I am talking cock.

More flats to be built in 2011

Mah Bow Tan has come out to assure the first time home buyers that more flats, to the tune of 16,000 units will be built next year, and more to come if the demand is there. It is good that he has implicitly acknowledged that there is a serious mismatch in the demand and supply of HDB flats and is trying his best to meet the penned up demand. The current spate of new flats being offered would ease the demand somewhat and perhaps slow down the surging prices of resale flats. This does not in anyway help those first time buyers that have been adversely affected by the shortage over the last few years. Many have to put off their marriage plans, baby making plans and whatever plans. Even with the current measures, it means that they will still have another 3 years to go before anything will happen. It is still a consolation that there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Would Mah Bow Tan stop at this? How would he compensate those that have missed the boat to get a HDB flat and were booted out of the HDB scheme when their incomes exceeded the $8000 ceiling, while trying to get a flat when the supply was low. And the policy then did not give first time buyers higher priority? And there are those that would now have to pay for much higher price HDB flats because they could not get their flats earlier. These first time buyers were callously dismissed by HDB and fell victims to its slow building phase and are adversely affected both in their plans to set up family as well as financially. Their plight cannot be ignored and the boosting of building programmes did not in anyway help this group of buyers or alleviate their problems. Some are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, not enough savings to buy private and not eligible for HDB. Let’s see whether Mah Bow Tan would consider doing something for these people, or would he say just too bad, water under the bridge. Let's move on. Their problems were not totally of their own doing and Mah Bow Tan should shoulder some of the responsibility for not anticipating the mismatch of supply and demand. They have every right to demand HDB to reconsider their cases and bring them back into the HDB scheme. _________________

3 most costly expenditure of Singaporeans

The 3 most expensive items that Singaporeans have to throw their money at are property, car and hospitalisation. A simple flat is likely to cost an average Singaporean $1m by the time he pays up his mortgage. The cars which he would have to purchase in his lifetime would range from $300k to more than a $1m, to an average Singaporean. The rich would spend more than $1m for a car, let alone several million dollar cars in the backyard. Then, given the fact that a Singaporean will live past 80 or 90, the luck of spend a month in hospital could cost him another few hundred thousand. Add another $500k to raise a child through university, geeze, that's quite a lot of money to pay in one's lifetime. But Singaporeans are rich, so not a problem paying for them. Time to celebrate National Day for the good life and able to pay for it.

HDB flats are cheap and good

Kudos to HDB, said Chan Kok Wah in a letter to the Today paper forum. I agree with him completely. HDB flats are so cheap, when compare to the prices of private developers. They are extremely cheap when compare to those in HongKong and Tokyo. We should be so grateful that our public housing flats are so cheap when comparing with the two most expensive cities. Why don't we look closer and compare with what the Malaysian govt is giving to their people? You can get a 3 rm landed property for MY$120k. And this is about $50k! My god, if our $500k 5rm flat is cheap, I will go crazy trying to find a word to describe the Malaysian public housing. It all depends on what one is comparing. We are very good at using the worst to tell our people how fortunate we are. We never use the best in other countries to show how bad we are. Cheap, cheep, chip. Next please.

Who is littering my country?

Singaporeans are being blamed for the increasing littering on the streets. If this be so, our education system has failed badly. Our anti littering campaign has failed badly. Our heavy fines and CWOs have failed miserably. It saddens me to think that all the education and campaigns and fines could not teach our people to keep our streets clean. Don’t forget our toilets are still the dirtiest among the world’s worst. How then could we call ourselves a first world city with first world people and with first world etiquettes and conducts? Living among us there are more than 1 million foreigners, maybe 1 million. Would they be the one who are doing the littering and dirtying of our streets and toilets? I would suggest that we set up a task force to catch some of these culprits and check on their identities. If most of them are Singaporeans, then the schools are not doing enough. If most of them are foreigners, then we should know what to do. Living in our midst, in HDB estates, the school children, the foreign workers and the office workers, there are many foreigners. We need to know why are we failing in cleaning up our city and raising a population that takes pride in keeping our country clean.

The Rules apply to babies and toddlers

There was an impressive news clip last night showing how serious SMRT was in enforcing its No eating and No drinking rules in the trains. The officers were meticulous to the word, very professional and polite, checking on commuters eating or drinking in the trains. For babies or toddlers sucking their milk bottles, they cordially invited the parents and babies to their staff room to drink in comfort and privacy. Now this is nice. I hope no one will come out with a betterer idea to provide special feeding rooms for babies and toddlers in every station, with hot water and wash basins as well. Please don't get any idea on this. This is my country. I love my country. I celebrate National Day on this.

Time to buy another car

COE is down. It was $36k last month and now $32k. Cars are now getting cheaper. Better hurry down to place my order for the next one before the price goes up again. I am hearing everyone saying, cheap, cheap and cheap. (It was $10k a short while ago.) I will call the car salesman today and place my order. How much to bid for the COE, any amount, no problem. If he wants to bid $100k also can. I know that I don’t have to pay for that sum as the monkeys cannot afford to pay so much. So many monkeys will scramble and count how much they could afford before submitting their bids. And knowing that they don’t have much money, how much could they afford to bid, $30k or $40k? They would exhaust every little savings they have. That is all they can afford. To me and those who are, ahem, very comfortable, what is a few million? So bid $100k, bid lah, what is the problem? The system is so kind to people like us, bid high high but no need to pay high high. : ) I love this system. It is an amazing system, very well conceived. Sometimes I feel sorry for the monkeys.

Ding dong policies

The family is the core unit of our nation building. We want our young to get married, have children, at least two. We want them to be filial, to visit their parents, look after and care for their parents. And better still, 3 generation family under one roof. We want our womenfolk to be productive, to go to work and provide that second income to pay for cheap HDB flats where one pay check is not enough. On the other hand we build flats that are smaller and smaller. Not only that the flats cannot accommodate 3 generations together, with 2 or 3 children, there is no room for a maid which is becoming a necessity to many families. The car park fees keep going up. How to visit parents when every hour is charged? How to be filial and stay overnight with parents when over night parking fee is doubled? Don’t they want the children to visit their parents, spend time with their parents, to share quality time with the family? And the parking fees for second car of children who want to spend more time with their parents are so costly. And instead of providing for adequate car parks, they only know how to increase the fees to keep people away. Parking is not just parking. It is a social activity, an essential family activity, an activity related to filial piety. It is also an activity where grandparents can help to look after the grandchildren while the parents are at work. The parents don’t just come back to pick up their children and scoot off immediately. The parking policies, providing inadequate car parks and prohibitive parking fees are anti social and anti family. The shoe box flats are also anti family and anti procreation. You mean you don’t know? Ding dong, ding dong, like two balls banging against each other happily ever after. It is unbelieveable to think that this doubling of carpark fees is universal and applicable to all car parks whether they are full or half full. Will it be implemented like dat?

Manifesto of Reform Party

Below are the 19 policy pledges of the Reform Party that I copied from its site. This is a list of 19 policy pledges that are on the top of our agenda for action when we gain a majority in Parliament: Providing Cheaper and Better Lower-Income Housing by releasing more land for house-building and allowing the private sector a greater role Universal health insurance to be funded through current CPF contributions replacing current Medisave and Medishield schemes Basic Old Age Pension payable to all provided they have worked and paid into CPF for a sufficient number of years Reform of CPF to make contributions above those necessary to fund health and unemployment insurance and basic pension voluntary Universal child benefit scheme (as part of Guaranteed Minimum Income) to replace current tax breaks that heavily favour women on higher incomes Guaranteed Minimum Income for those in work to replace current Workfare system and to be integrated with child benefit and tax system A Minimum Wage to encourage businesses to raise productivity Reforms to Foreign Worker Policy to ensure that business gets the skilled labour it needs but that our own citizens come first Reductions in or exemptions from GST for certain categories of goods like food that form a higher proportion of total expenditure for those on median incomes and below Universal free and compulsory education from pre-school through to secondary level Expanded university enrolment and increased investment in improving quality of education for everyone Increased assistance for older workers and women re-entering the labour market to retrain and acquire new educational qualifications Reduction in NS to 18 months initially with aim to reduce it to one year as soon as feasible Requirement for new citizens and PRs to do NS or to pay lump sum tax instead Privatization of Temasek and GIC and distribution of equity to Singaporean citizens of more than five years standing Continuing Business and Foreign Investment Friendly Environment coupled with low tax rates Greater help and support for local SMEs to grow world-class companies Abolish restrictions on freedom of expression to encourage creativity and innovation necessary for a 21st century knowledge-based economy Reduce waste and inefficiency in government starting with slashing ministerial salaries and replacing it with performance-linked earnings tied to indicators directly related to your welfare I am sold to these pledges. I just want to add one point on the housing policy. Do away with salary ceiling. If we build enough flats, there is no fear of those who earns a bit more fighting with those who earn lesser. Forcing young people to buy expensive private flats is wicked. Also, every citizen who has served NS should be entitled to buy a flat from HDB as a recognition for his sacrifice to the nation. I support all the 19 pledges.

Are we at war?

My eyebrows were raised when I read an article by Ong WeiChong in the ST today. The article 'Preserve the link between citizens, SAF' mentioned our soldiers involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I quote, 'As part of the multinational effort to restore stability in Iraq, 998 SAF personnel were deployed in Operation Blue Orchid in and around the Iraqi theatre from 2003 to 2008. The SAF presence in Afghanistan to date has included provincial reconstruction teams, medical teams, a weapon-locating radar team, an unmanned aerial vehicle task group, aerial refuelling aircraft teams and artillery trainers. The technicality that Singapore is not at war does not disguise the fact that SAF personnel are operating in a war zone.' Fortunately, I believe, we have no casualty yet. What if one of our boys come back in a black plastic bag? Would he be considered KIA, killed in a war? I pray nothing of such will happen to our boys. Such missions are not the same as those in Meubulah during the tsunami crisis when our boys were there to provide and assist in humanitarian aids.

A warning to triple A countries

The Americans continue their provocations against the North Koreans with more military drills and a series of offensive anti North Korea media reports. Many western reporters have been roped in, including some from Asia and even Singapore, to write derogatory and biased reports about North Korea and Kim Jung Il. Now they are intensifying their provocations by attempting to freeze North Korean bank accounts in US banks and western banks that the US could manipulate. And they cry out loud that the North Koreans are provocative. But the western world and the American lackeys could not see any provocative acts on the part of the Americans. What did the North Koreans do to be branded as provocative? Could not they react to such provocations by the Americans? The freezing of North Korean bank accounts is a warning to all the triple A countries that their turn will come. These Asian, African and Latin American countries should take heed of this warning and move their money out of America and American banks, including those banks that are American allies, particularly those in Europe. They should park their money in banks that the Americans cannot lay their hands on or touch them. But if they choose to be silly and continue to park their money in American and European banks, they will have to take the risk of their money being frozen one day.

Work to live longer

LKY has said it and proven this to be true. He is a living example. Yesterday there was a letter to Today’s paper disputing this claim and quoting two research papers, one by Japanese Nobel Laureate Dr Leo Esaki and another by Dr Ephrem Cheng of the University of Alberta. Both papers pointed to people living longer if they retired earlier than later. The studies based on American workers in AT&T and Boeing, Lockheed and Lucent concluded that employees who retired at 65 died within two years of retirement. On the other hand those who retired at 50 or 55 could live up to 85. Is there a contradiction or conflict in LKY’s position and those of the two academic. Actually no. What is important is that people who retire early should continue to work on a part time basis and ‘at a more leisurely pace, without the stress of the daily grind.’ And, ahem, that is what LKY is doing. He had retired from the premiership many years back and is working at a pace comfortable to him, without the stress of the daily grind. For those who are going to continue to work and retire after 65, the study says they will die within two years after retirement. But there is a little hope. If they just stay on the job, they may live and work till the day they die, may be 80 or 85, provided the job is still there for them. The food court cleaners are the best example. They will live to a ripe age, working happily in the food court. But my experience in the food courts is that none of them appear happy. They are mostly grumpy, grouchy, hot temper and quarrelsome, anything but happy.

Solving problem Singapore Style

We have just solved the night car parking problem in HDB car parks. We have solved the jams in our road system, we have solved gambling addictions among Singaporeans, we have solved our housing problems. We have solved the problem of not able to get quality politicians by using money. We solved the corruption problem too. Even insurers of motor vehicles have learnt the trick. We have solved many problems by applying the same principle, using money. How we used money to solve problems can be classified under two distinct categories. The first is to throw money at the problem. The more money thrown at it, the faster will the problem be solved. The second method is to make the affected party pay for the incompetence of the organisation. In applying this method, every problem becomes a money making opportunity. I think problems are most welcome as problems will end up in boosting the bottom line. Naturally the second method is the preferred choice. The smarter Singaporeans are aware of this and are afraid to raise new problems as their own pockets will be affected. The ignorant will continue to raise problems to be solved with their pockets being emptied. A few outstanding problem awaiting to be solved. The recurrent flooding in Orchard Road and many other areas, and the crowding in MRT trains. The solutions are at hand.

Should Singaporeans be angry?

In a discussion in PAP's Facebook, it was claimed that a PR by the name of Fahim Hameed had called Singaporeans scums for not appreciating the things the govt have done for them. I am not sure how true this is, but it sounds real as several blogs have reported on it. Should Singaporeans be angry to be called scums by a PR they invited to live with them, to make money here, and also to enjoy our hospitality? I think they should not and there are many reasons for it. In the first place, the PRs are here to help the Singaporeans, help to create jobs for Singaporeans, help to increase GDP growth, have in population growth, help to improve our genetic pool, help Singaporeans to be more productive and competitive. And Singaporeans can sell their flats and make profits from the PRs too, or rent out rooms for pocket money. Be grateful, Singaporeans. And to have a PR to call Singaporeans scums is actually an honour. If Singaporeans are scolded by lesser talents, then it will be an insult. But PRs are normally more talented. And to be insulted by a better talent is no shame. Singaporeans should instead say thank you to this Fahim Hameed. Without Fahim, Singaporeans would not know that they have become scums in the eyes of FTS.

The Booms and Fear

Seah Chiang Nee posted an article in the Malaysian Star paper titled, GDP up, but no cheer heard. It is a true reflection of the sentiment on the ground. Who cares or is interested in the 15% GDP growth? Who would such a number benefits? Only those that will benefit from it will be quietly patting themselves of the good news and the goodies coming their way. The surprising reaction is that the booming economy is going to lead to more fears. The fear of high inflation and higher cost of living. The first frightening news is the arrival of another 100,000 foreign workers to meet the demand of a booming economy. What this simply means is that more people crowding the public facilities and transportation system. Higher property prices. More social problems, more competition by cheap labour. Singaporeans would likely ask, what is in it for me? Economic boom, bigger reserves, GIC and Temasek’s holding in record high. For who, benefit who? Singaporeans would be lucky to be given an angpow of a few hundred bucks. The trouble is that no sooner than the angpow is received, they will be taken back in many other ways. The public transport companies have already started to raise their fares by a whopping 40% and the people are asked to tolerate and wait for it to benefit them. This is new. In the past, they give first before taking back. Now take first then give and probably take back more later. Maybe this will answer Seah Chiang Nee’s observation on why no cheer for a booming economy.

The Cocks are crowing

With the high ridership in public transport system, particularly the trains, all kinds of brilliant and silly ideas are being churned out. There are actually no brilliant ideas at all but mostly silly ones. They are as silly as those offered and implemented to reduce road congestions. All ends up with the motorists paying more for being caught in slow traffic and jams. The silly ideas being bounced around will do the same thing. They will increase fares without improving the situation. The problem must be addressed first if we are to solve the overcrowding in trains. The problem is simply too many commuters and too few trains, like too many cars and too few roads. Some of the ideas like employing staff to shove commuters into trains were happily suggested as if it is a fashionable and acceptable thing because the Japanese are doing it. It is obnoxious to shove people around like animals into a cage. Never learn or do silly things just because a developed country is doing it. Think first, on what is good, reasonable and desirable in a first class transport system. Don't copy blindly. Another silly idea is to charge more for peak hours like ERPs. Another stupid idea of course. Most of the commuters are not rich and have to arrive at their places of work on time. Stop thinking of fleecing the poor commuters on an inefficient or inadequate system. The overcrowding is a simple manifestation that the train system is unable to cope with the increase ridership. You need more trains running or more lines. On the contrary you need to bring down ridership. The latter is no go as the public are encouraged to take public transport and give up their cars. Wait till another 100,000 foreign workers join the crowd. The signs of over capacity are there for all to see. The island is overcrowded and the infrastructure is straining. The flooding is another sign that there is just so much space left and further development or demands on space will lead to system breakdown. Say again, 6.5 million or 10 million population is our target? We need more people to ensure economic growth? It is time to stop adding more sardines into the tiny can.

Inviting a wolf into a sheep pen

Asean's invitation of the US to play a bigger role in the region is like inviting a wolf into a sheep pen. The US is notorious for warmongering. In fact it thrives on wars. It depends on wars to survive, to keep its weapons industry going, its huge military forces and weapons useful. Starting wars and propagating wars is the US way to sustain its economy and keep itself relevant. Wherever the Americans are, there will be wars. The latest casualty is Pakistan. It had many years of peace without the US. The moment Musharraff went dining with George Bush, the country was plunged into warfare. And it is still at war. The other notables are Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran and Korea will be next. And to keep an incessant series of wars in the pipeline, it is sowing seeds in the Asean region, encouraging the Asean states to stand up to China with their backings. The Filipinos used to do that by arresting or harrassing Chinese fishing boats. Of course they knew that they had the Americans behind them to pull the whiskers of a sleeping dragon. Would Asean be thrown into a state of turmoil and warfare? Will Southeast Asia be no longer a zone of peace, freedom and neutrality? We will have to see how silly the Asean leaders are and the consequences of playing with fire.