Red passport in danger

Philippine airport police nabs Singaporean national for carrying shabu Inquirer.net, 10 Dec 2010 MANILA, Philippines--A Singaporean national was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 Thursday for allegedly sneaking illegal drugs into the country, police said on Friday. Soa K.H., 36, had just arrived from Thailand via the Thai Airways Flight TG-620 when airport authorities arrested him before 2 p.m., according to a report from the police's National Operations Center. Singaporean arrested at NAIA for shabu possession - GMANews.TV Posted by admin at Friday, December 10, 2010 0 comments Singaporean nabbed in Johor for drug trafficking Malaysia Star, 10 Dec 2010 JOHOR BARU: Police have busted a drug trafficking syndicate with the arrest of three people including a Singaporean and seizure of more than RM271,000 worth of syabu and Eramin 5 pills. Johor Police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff said police officers from the State Narcotics Department raided a house in Taman Setia Tropika following a tip-off at 3.30am on Dec 6 .... Above are Singaporeans making headlines for the wrong stuff. The squeaky clean Singaporean image is taking a bashing around the world. My red passport was a cherished and respectable document that could whisk me through many international airports with accorded respect from the immigration authorities. The citizens of less dignified countries looked in awe at the power of our red passport. At the rate Singaporeans are hitting the headlines for drug traffickings and other crimes, it would not be long when holders of our red passports would have to join the long queue to be thoroughly search, like high suspects for crimes. We are progressing in the wrong fields.

The paranoid obsession of North Korea

North Korea and the Kim family have become our public enemy number one if we go by the amount of hate reports on them as an indicator. We have almost daily angry reports of how bad the country has been managed by a family of irrational, naïve and incompetent family who are still living in the forgotten era of the past. They are expected to throw tantrums, wanting to show their manhood, provocative of their neighbours to prove their worthiness and never grow up. The picture painted of the North Koreans is just the reversed of the fairy tale existence of handsome princes and princesses of the European genre, prince charmings, no matter how dull they were and princesses that really look no better than our Ah Lians and with a brain to match. There is a stable of local and foreign talents masquerading as serious analysts and reporters pushing out vile and childish stories about North Korea and shafting them down the throat of the innocent and ignorant public. As days go by, one wonders whether it is the North Koreans that are immature and obnoxious or it is the reporters/analysts that churned out garbage at their expense. The other interesting question is why the obsession and hatred of the North Koreans that have really nothing to do with us nor affect our existence in anyway. The Korean waves that our youth and aunties are embracing originate from the South. Maybe there is nothing harmless to write about locally and hacking at a distant isolated country is the second best thing to do. Or is there a dark agenda to the whole episode? It resembles a kind of political evangelism.

Modern day pirates, slave traders and drug peddlers

They used to make it big time catching slaves and trading them for profit. The same group was also active in piracy along the coast of Africa, but not of the Somali kind. They were Europeans. Some went further to China to push drugs, selling opium to the stupid Chinamen. And many built huge mansions in England, Europe and America from their lucrative businesses. Brown University was named after a slave trader. Jardines, Mathesons, Brooklyns, Rockefellers, Rothschild and what else, were all infamous and even became conglomerates. They were the heroes of the crowns and were knighted as members of their empires. There were no moral issues, no righteousness, no fair play, no wrong, all for good and clean profits. And they became respectable gentlemen and nobilities. And they got to be addressed as Sir. The modern pirates, drug peddlers and slave traders are also in respectable industries and professions. The finance industry is infested with these great gentlemen and talents. They pushed toxic notes, toxic bonds and improvised all kinds of rules and regulations and gaming of all kinds, to fleece the unwary and the weary, the innocent and ignorant and the not so well connected. And the modern day robbers, pirates and drug peddlers would also be knighted, respectable, and would build mansions all over the world, hop and sail in their private jets and yachts. And there is also no need to be woolly about morality, about fair play and about righteousness. These are only the concerns for the losers to cry over with, after they were fleeced.

China should raise the Korean tension issue in the UN

While the belligerent parties are bent on provoking the North Koreans with more war games in the Yellow Sea and the borders of North Korea, and calling the North Koreans provocative, China should not keep quiet and let the unjust blame game to go on. China must name the gangsters as they are and bring the matter to the UN to let the world community knows who are the real provocateurs. China cannot afford to be on the defensive and allow the US to put the blame on her when the US is the real culprit in the whole crisis. The american deception and ill intent to raise tension in the Korean Peninsula must be revealed for all to see. One simple resolution that the UN can adopt is to stop all parties from conducting war games in the Yellow Sea and 200km from the Korean borders. This alone should be good enough to lower the tension in the peninsula. If not, the belligerent countries will continue to carry their big guns to threaten North Korea. In addition, China shall call for a thorough investigation on the blowing up of Choenan and find who is the real murderer of the South Korean seamen. This incident must not be forgotten and laid to rest without giving justice to the dead men and their families. It must be pursued rigorously. Otherwise more innocent people would be killed with more of such incidents to raise tension and war between the two Koreans will be repeated. The two Koreans too must support such an investigation, and avoid conducting war games to provoke one another.

Another isolated youth slashing incident

A 23 year old was slashed in Yishun for asking a group of teenagers for his lost mobile phone. The youngest of the slashers was only 13. They attacked the 23 year old with parangs and leaving him bleeding with many cuts. He was lucky to be alive. This must be another isolated incident involving wayward youths. I don’t think they are gang members, just nice little neighbourhood kids on an outing together. The only difference today is that kids don’t only carry mobile phones only. They also tucked a parang in their waist pouch. And they are willing to wield the parangs and chop anyone when confronted. This is how far our society has progressed. We have upgraded our communications skill, from talking to arguing to quarrelling and now to slashing. And the fashion gadgets the kids are attaching to their bodies include tattoos and parangs, not 3 inch jack knives or pen knives. Any slashing incident is just a once in 50 year affair. And our nice neighbourhood kids will not be involved in any gangland warfare. Maybe a little staring incident now and then. Nothing to worry about. Singapore is still a very safe city.

In praise of Greed

68 medical specialists left the public sector to go into private practice. And the lure is a ten fold increase in income. Current income of public sector specialists ranges from $12k to $60k pm or $160k to three quarter of a million as compare to a million to 5 million in the private sector. And with COE hitting the $100k mark soon, these poor doctors would not be able to buy a decent car to drive. Nothing is wrong with the specialists wanting to earn a few millions a year. What is fearful is that the next round of salary increment in the public sector for medical specialists would push medical fees out into deep space. But that is the price to pay for a booming economy when there is so much money to be made and with a price tag of a few millions for anything as only small change. The way it is going, all the specialists should soon end up in the private sector, and more private hospitals can be built to reap more profits from this life and death business. The public sector can never hope to compete with the private sector on money alone. If they do, it will create a continuous domino theory with every other professional expecting to earn more than the doctors, starting with the politicians. We now have a great trend going in the property sectors when everything is for sale for more profits. And the foreigners are not short of cash with liquidity flooding the world’s financial system. The Chinese, the Indians, the Europeans and Americans are all pouring their petty cash here to sweep up every available property left. The recent announcement of Caldecott Hill being available for good residential properties could see more being built and sold off. And the GDP numbers are going to look very good indeed. Everything is for sale, for profit and for money. For those who fall into the CBF category of workers, tighten your seat belt and trouser’s belt. The ride is going to be exhilarating. We are in the best of time of our economic boom. The big cars are selling fast even with $60k for a piece of COE. The good times are here.

Responsibilities of Stock Exchanges

Goh Eng Yeow wrote an article in the ST on 6 Dec expressing concern on the role of high speed trading and the interests of small traders. High speed trading as an instrument used by big funds to take advantage of sophisticated computer technology is giving the funds an unfair advantage against the small traders. With the aid of high speed computers, the fund is able to tap into the system to know the queues of buy and sell and more, and could then come to a quick decision to buy and sell to its favour. When funds are trading in a big way, high volume and high speed, against the small investors or the rest of the investors, the losers are obvious. What then is the position of the stock exchanges on this new development? There are some fundamental responsibilities and roles which the stock exchanges are governed by its own regulations to uphold and to protect investors. Among these are: 1. Provide a level playing field. With the participation of high speed trading, is the playing field level? Is there an unfair advantage in favour of high speed traders? 2. Churning is against the regulations of stock exchanges. 3. Buying and selling without change of ownership is a violation of stock exchange regulations. 4. Buying and selling and creating a false market through such actions is also a violation of stock exchange regulations. 5. Is the trading of big funds transparent to the small investors when transparency is a hallmark of a proper stock exchange? How could stock exchanges protect the interests of investors and maintain the integrity of the system without compromising on its own regulatory role with the introduction of high speed trading? Is there a problem here?

Julian Assange for Nobel Peace Prize

No other man deserves the Nobel Peace Prize more than Julian Assange. He took on the world’s most belligerent country in modern history, to stop it from waging more wars around the world. He tries to stop the Evil Empire from pulling wools over the eyes of Americans and peoples of the world on its war crimes. He stood up for investigative reporting, press freedom and freedom of expression. For these noble objectives he is now hounded down and arrested on drum up charges like rape. He is now the number one enemy of the Evil Empire, and he fought alone with a handful of loyal and dedicated staff. While he is being ostracized and criminalized, the biggest criminal against humanity is awarded the Nobel Peace Price for trying to start more wars while continuing to commit more troops to on going wars. The Nobel Peace Prize Committee is rightly called a Committee of Clowns for awarding the respectable Peace Prize to an undeserving candidate while the most deserving is left in the lurch.

The pathetic Asians

After a few centuries of colonization and manipulations by the West, I thought Asians would have wise up and stop fighting and killing each other. I thought Chinese would not fight Chinese, Koreans would not fight Koreans, Vietnamese would not fight Vietnamese, and in general, Asians would not fight Asians. The sad fact is that Asians would keep being led by the nose by the west, even a woman like Hilary is smart enough to make the Asians hate each other and want to gorge each other’s eyes out. When would Asians stand up and reflect on themselves and think for themselves? When would Asians think of their own interests and stop being manipulated by the West to kill each other? The Americans is starting wars all over Asia but not Europe or North America. Maybe the Asians are truly of lower intellect and can be easily hook winked by the West. Just look the rubbish articles coming out of the West and printed in Asian media like gospel truths. And Asians are supposed to lap it up happily without question. Mahbubani and other Asian thinkers have a lot of work to do to kick the Asian arses and wake them up. Asians can think? Ha! Until today, Asians are dependent on one source of news and logic which they believe are reliable, truthful and accurate, from the West. Bloody silly Asians. They deserve to be colonized once again and to be subjects of western empires. Reading todays’ ST, a new thinker has emerged in the name of Peh Shing Huei. He chastised China for running out of ideas and being a ‘one trick pony’ in the seemingly unsolvable North Korean dilemma. He, like all westerners, took the stance that it was all North Korea’s fault and North Korea is run by an irrational mad man and his son and causing all the problems even China cannot handle. He quoted some Taiwanese as an authority to back up his view. China will do better if the talent of Peh can be harnessed and the North Korean issue will be solved immediately. Peh must have many tricks up his sleeves. Hu JinTao and his comrades are just untalented Chinese leaders that may need a little help from Peh Shing Huei. For the time being, the North Koreans are good enough to be called names like ‘son of a bitch’ by all the western sympathizers and talented reporters. I must change my earlier pronouncement that Asians cannot think. Asians can really think and write articles of great wisdom in the media.

Another motorist complaining of being robbed

A letter to the ST forum complained that the motor insurance is just like day light robbery. No accident, premium still goes up. Got accident, premium goes up higher. So what the hell is happening? What are motorists paying? Protection money? The insurance premium is more than the road tax the motorists are paying. Weren’t some jokers said they were working on this to help the motorists? Who is making all the motor insurance money by the way? The insurance companies claimed that they are losing hundreds of millions. But they would not give up the business. There is a big rat somewhere.

The Americans and South Koreans hell bent on war

They continue to provoke the North Koreans by conducting more war games. And they are complaining that the North Koreans are provocative. And they want China to rein in the North Koreans! The countries that are provocative and need reining in are the Americans and the South Koreans. If they stop their provocation and stop their war games at the border with North Korea, there will be no tension. Here we have the devil calling everyone devil. The best part is that they are going to blame China for the next Korean War. They are not meeting in Washington planning when to start the war. Since the South Koreans are bent on killing the North Koreans, and themselves being killed, and the US and Japan most willing to join in the killing, China should just fold its arms and watch. Let them go merrily to kill each other. China should just say, go ahead, it’s my pleasure. In the meantime China should just tell the world what the Americans are up to.

COV slipping down, is it good?

Why are people making comments like as if it is a good thing that COV is coming down? If it is good to keep it down, it should not have gone up so high in the first place. Oh, market forces, can’t be helped. But the govt is helping to push it down with all the curbs and cooling measures, which means it can be helped. A young couple was happy that they could afford a resale flat at $350k with a $15k COV. Happy like shit, as if striking lottery. Their combined income is $3,500 pm. Even with a $50k grant, it is still more than $300k for that unit. With the mortgages and interest, it is probably something like $600k by the time the loan is fully repaid. How many months or years of income is that? Nearly 20 years. It means that this couple would have to work for 20 years for free just to pay for that flat. Don’t they need money to survive, to bring up children? Never mind, these are the losers in our society. Think about the good stuff. Many residents are owning properties worth millions and feeling so rich. And their properties are going to go up in value with more investors flooding here. Singapore is now the top city for property investment. To maintain this shining title, our property prices must go up. And for COV to come down, that is bad. It is working the other way. Maybe it is temporary as election is around the corner. Singaporeans will have more to cheer after the election when their property prices shoot to the sky once more. And the young couple mentioned above can pat their own back to congratulate themselves for making a wise decision. Their $350k flat may then be worth $500k and they will be sitting on a fat profit, and feeling very rich.

Difficult to plan housing needs on a macro basis

This is what Lim Hwee Hua said at the Kampong Chai Chee dialogue. How many people agree with this statement? The residents were angry at the high prices of public flats which they knew were driven by exceptionally high demand and low supply. Any man in the street will be able to tell why when the distortion of demand and supply is so huge. No need super talent feats. Only those who chose not to see will say they don’t know. I don’t believe that someone is sleeping on the job. Neither do I believe that there is no data to show the macro pattern of population growth. The population growth is not 100k or 200k, it is once in 50 years type of increase! What is the real reason for the fiasco? Like they said, the truth will never surface aka Mas Selamat’s escape. Another comment from Lim Hwee Hua is that first time flat buyers are finding it difficult to buy flats because COV is too high. Is that so? What about the prices of new flats and resale flats? If it is just COV, then prices of new flats and resale flats are affordable. Sure affordable as many are snapped up on launches, except that the buyers will hang millstones on their necks and pray that they will be able to repay the loans over the next 30 years. When there is no other choices, the buyers will just have to take whatever that is available at the price of the sellers.

Korean War – An American Conspiracy Revealed

The Americans are adamant that the Korean War must be reignited. They needed the war to generate more revenue for the American weapons industry and, politically and strategically, to entrench their position in the Korean Peninsula. Minus the tension, the two Koreans will be talking and getting closer, possibly reuniting which will force out American bases in Korea. So the game plan is to get the two fighting at all cost. The start was nuclear weapons in the North. This would put a lot of pressure on the North and western opinion against them. The most deadly attempt is likely to be the Choenan which killed many South Korean soldiers. It was a good reason for the South to attack the North. But the amateurish prank soon was uncovered and the South could not use it as a reason to fight the North. It should be a reason for the South to declare war with whoever that killed their soldiers. Who is this party? The Americans are not going to give up easily just because Choenan did not go as planned. More provocations needed, more war games to provoke the North. This came when the North retaliated by bombing Yeonpyeong. Now there is good reason for the South to get work up. The number of death in this instance is much lesser than Choenan. But there is clear proof this time that the North fired the artillery. No media in the world has raised the issue of American/South Korean provocations by conducting regular war games at the border with the North Koreans. This is not to be spoken. Now the next step is to push the South Koreans into war. This will be followed by roping in more Asian countries into the conspiracy. Japan, Nato, Australia and NZ forces are guaranteed to be a part of this new war. The trick is to get the Asian countries into it. Remember the Asian Tour by Obama? The picture is getting clearer. The Americans wanted the Indians and the Indonesians to come on board in this new coalition against North Korea and its allies. The Indonesians will not be drawn in. India is still a high possibility. When the new Korean War breaks out, there will still be two dependable Asean countries to step forward to join the Americans to kill the Koreans, both North and South. No prizes for guessing. The real loser in a renewed Korean War will be the people and nation of Korea. They will become history. Any survivors will likely become subjects of their new colonial masters.

What did WikiLeaks revealed?

Many believe the WiliLeak information are all truth. Some are but many are not. Some are just versions of what the US diplomats penned to feed Washington. And who knows, some are just misinformation or versions that they wanted the world to know. There are plenty of American propaganda and slanted information for the world to lap up. What is unpleasant is that the Americans failed miserably to protect the interests and reputations of national leaders who were prepared to talk to them in confidence, thinking that what they said will be kept in secret. In such a climate of trust, many world leaders were caught with their pants down, bad mouthing other leaders and countries. This is no good. It destroys the credibility of the leaders in the report. No amount of damage control can undo this ruinous act of indiscretion. One wonders why the US could not stop the leak or to block the information from being spread across the internet. Don’t they have the capability to do so? Definitely. Why didn’t they do it or is it that the leaks were more beneficial to the US than if they were kept secret? And hurting a few statesmen is also good for the US. Embarrass them to bring them down, flat on their faces? Some statesmen are now red in their faces for speaking truthfully to the Americans. They must be having sleepless nights knowing the Americans have made a mockery of their reputation and integrity.

Ye are all devils, says the devil

The astonishing result of the FIFA voting is a sign of a change of winds. Russia and Qatar were voted to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups respectively. When the results were announced, it was horrors in everyone’s face except for the winning nations. The prologue to the voting was best exemplified by the devils calling everyone devils, and the corrupts calling everyone corrupt. And the aftermath, the vitrolics were even more venomous. We were cheated, the whole voting was manipulated, bribery, cheats, etc etc. And ‘Russia, a mafia state rotten to the core with corruption; Qatar a mediaeval kingdom with no freedom of speech; Both are swimming in oil money.’ So said the righteous and wronged gentlemen. Vladimir Putin absented himself from the election parade and circus so as not to put pressure on the voting council. Others don’t. They were there in full force to influence the voting with their titles, pedigrees, and comics. The outcome turned to be in favour of those who did not do anything to try to influence the decision. But they were attacked with cheap diatribes from the well heeled but bad losers.

When gods, satans, saints and devils party together

Is this scenario possible in a world where religious purity and pedigree are reaching a stage of mutual exclusivity? Many religions still preach that theirs is the only true religion and the rest are worshipping devils or satans. Would such believers, so faithful in their beliefs, unyielding and incorrigible to the heel, go partying with those whom they believe are devils or devil worshippers? Would they be willing to hug and kiss the devil when they are expected to rid the devil? If they do, would they be compromising on their true beliefs? Or would they just be hypocritical, putting on an act that they would denounce should others do it? Or would they quickly return to their holy residents and start a frantic cleansing to be rid of the devils and the devilish stench? Yak, holding hands with the devils! Dettol will not do, only holy water can cleanse away the marks of satan. Where on earth can we see the devils, saints, satans and gods partying happily together? In realtiy, the world is just that. There must be night and day. There must be good and evil. And there must be gods, saints, satans and devils. They are all part and parcel of a big family, co existing and inseparable. Without one, they will be no the other. Actually they all have one thing in common. They were all man once.

Lai, Lai, Lai or come, come, come

Singapore is not a welfare state but the govt will keep boosting social safety net to help the poor in our community. Hsien Loong acknowledged that ‘society is feeling the strain of globalization, ageing and troubled families…but our social safety net is working well…’ What the people need is not a welfare state and neither more assistance from the govt. What the people need is self reliance, lower cost of living, jobs and good income. Good income means enough to buy a decent place to live in and decent quality of life. If the govt can provide these basic needs without straining the resources of the people, without creating more strains and hardship, that is all the people are asking for. And the people will be most happy to tell the govt to keep their welfare handouts. If the cost of living is high and people feel stressed and pressurized, it is a failure of the system. The more help the govt needs to provide, the bigger is the failure on the govt’s part. The high property prices and medical fees and cost of basic needs are harmful to the people. No need to say, come, come, come, we will help you.

Lee Myung Bak will be purged

All the signals are there that President Lee Myung Bak will be purged and be replaced by a military man. Lee is seen as a weakling by the US and Japan and must be removed if they want a war between the two Koreas. Retired Gen Kim Kwan Jin has been brought into the cabinet as the Defence Minister. His rethorics are pleasing to the ears of its colonial masters. The North Koreans do not have the ability to fight the South Koreans, according to this Southern Kim. If South Korea fires at the North, it will not lead to an all out war. So it is safe to attack the North. This is the thinking of a clueless soldier. He thinks he can fight a war and sure to win, and he can contain the war to his likings. He claimed superiority of air power with 490 combat aircraft and has threatened air strikes against the North. Typical brave man but short of grey matters. The Americans and Japanese are preparing all their logistics and drills to join in the killings of the North Koreans. The largest war game is now being held nearby and combat ready. Soon American and Japanese soldiers will be running the streets of Korea and killing Koreans again. I think the Koreans deserve to fight and be devastated by another war and be ruled again, completely by the Americans and the Japanese. China and Russia should stay out of the conflict and let the two Koreans go and kill themselves since they are so willing to do so. And history will repeat itself again with Korea becoming a protectorate of the peace loving Americans and Japanese. Go Korea, go. Remove Lee Myung Bak and put in a strong military man as the President and resume the Korean War. The whole world will be cheering. Your staunch allies, the US and Japan will be 100% behind you. They are more eager than you to start a war. Don't worry, the North Koreans cannot fight a war. Forget about the earlier Korean War when the South Korean soldiers were nearly chased by the North Koreans into the sea. The South Koreans are truly great soldiers. Just believe that and go for it. Strike the North with all you have.

What a WikiLeak from the US Embassy in Japan may look like.

Tokyo Embassy, USA, to the Hilary Clinton, Secretary of State. Top Secret. Subject: Korean War Sequeal The South Koreans are not biting. After blowing up the Choenan and getting our own team to fix the blame on the North Koreans they are still not declaring war with the North. In fact they are getting suspicious of the cause of the Incident. And when North Korea asked to see the evidence, they got cold feet and conducted their own investigations which revealed a lot of holes in the fabricated truths we put up as findings of an international investigation team. The South Korean public also does not believe it anymore. The situation is getting dicey. Now the good part. The artillery firing in Yeonpyeong was so close to the North and it forced them to respond furiously with artillery fire. Several soldiers and civilians in the island became war collateral. And we thought the South will now have to retaliate. The bad part is that the South Koreans still refuse to act. They are only prepared to raise the tones of their verbal protests. Even with our nudging they would not fire back at the North. The Ambassador is fuming mad at the inactions of the meek South Korean President. He appears so weak and reluctant to do anything, pleading for time to cool off. Our close ally in this game, Japan, is losing its patience. They wanted action, war, between the two Koreans. They have promised to commit weapons, men and finances, without reservations, to the conflict. And they are not asking much in return for their contributions. They only want to have a free hand in the reconstruction of the whole of Korea after the war. They want to bring in their manufacturing plants, build the infrastructure, and concessions on territorial rights from the 38th parallel to the Yalu River. Below the 38th parallel they will leave everything to us. Our Japanese ally is asking for immediate action. If Choenan does not work, if the artillery drills and war games do not work, what else shall we do to get the South Koreans fired up to want to go to war with the North? We need clear and specific instructions from Washington to proceed further on this operation urgently. Further delay will result in the tension dying down quickly, and all our effort will go to waste. Our Ambassador is suggesting to remove Lee Myung Bak with a hawkish new President. We need a military man to take charge and to declare war on the North Koreans. Embassy Tokyo.