The Madman of the 21st Century

Kim Jong Il? Come on, don’t be stupid! He is just making noises to get himself heard and to protest against all the provocations hurled at him and his country. He may prance around like he meant real business, but no way is he mad. The Madman of the 21st Century is the USA. It is not only starting wars and fighting wars everywhere on self perceived threats of its own security, it is also the personification of a crazy bunch of people living in self deception. It wants to bomb Iran, it wants to nuke North Korea. And the South Koreans are helping this Madman to wipe up their fellow Koreans. In the meantime this Madman is frantically going around the world to sign military alliances to contain China. It is living in constant fear of losing its pole position as the top dog in the world. What other madness will it do? I quote this from Imran Andrew Price’s article, ‘Stop the warmongers’ The US Defense Secretary, Robert Gates has argued that a “successful” attack on Iran’s facilities would delay the Iranians by at most a few years. Oh, the Americans had used the same kind of logic to invade Iraq too. And the same argument is also being reiterated by the joker Michael Mullen in Korea. Unfortunately no one can stop this Madman other than the ordinary American citizens. But this bunch of idiots is easily swayed by the calls for war and victory. They needed the self assurance that they are the number one super power, and war victories will make them feel good. Not until the reality of their own sons and daughters coming home in black plastic bags will then awake from their drunken stupor. The world will continue to be harassed by this Madman till he trips and fall over his own mines that he laid to kill his imagined enemies all over the world.

Value for money education

For those who complained about higher tuition fees in the universities, they were assured that what they were paying for was for quality. Good education does not come cheap unless one is willing to accept lower quality education and paying less. This is the same logic in hospitals. You want world class medical services, be prepared to pay for world class medical fees. Going backwards, the media had an interesting article on the fees parents are willing to pay for their children to attend pre schools. The fees can go up as high as $20k pa in the best pre schools, and this fee is higher than what undergrads are paying. But the parents are not complaining as their children will be getting the best education their money can buy. For those who are paying $6k they can expect that their children will get the value of a $6k pre school education. And for those who are paying a few hundred bucks, don’t they dare to complain that the quality is only as good as the few hundred bucks they are paying. They pay for what they get. What else could they expect? Want quality, pay more lah. By the time the children enter Primary One, the gap between those who attended the top end pre schools and those at the low end pre schools must be pretty obvious. Of course the top end pre school graduates will be smarter and betterer than those from the low end pre schools. Oh, top end pre school children would not know what betterer means. Now many parents will have another thing to stress them up. Finding money to enrol their children in high end pre schools to give their little ones a head start in life. Good luck to them.

Are the South Koreans mad?

I watched the news and the South Koreans are adamant about continuing with the live firing drill in Yeonpyeong. Not only that, they are sending balloons with anti Pyongyang leaflets into North Korea. Why are they so keen to go to war with the North Koreans? Are they insane, or are they being forced to act like mad people, insisting on provoking the North Koreans? Do they know that today’s warfare is not the same as WW2? Warfare today no longer moves soldiers, sending divisions to fight one another. Warfare today is about pushing buttons and sending monstrous bombs that would destroy infrastructure like sand castles and killing people in the hundreds of thousands. Do they think they can survive a war, or do they think they are going to a tea party with no casualties? Fighting North Korea is not like the US fighting Iraq. If war breaks out between the two Koreas, count on it that the Americans and Japanese will come join in. And they better count on it that the Chinese and Russians too will join in. The people of South Korea shall rise up and remove their govt before being led to their death in a war that they don’t need. This is an American and Japanese war against the Korean people. And the soldiers killing each other, and the people killed in this war, will be mainly Koreans. Unbelievable, why are the Koreans so dense? Any Koreans reading this article care to comment.

How to fix up a political opponent?

Very simple, throw all kinds of drum up charges against him. If nothing meaning can be used, sex crime is the best. If sodomy is not common to the target, simply rape will do. The world is now witnessing the best show on earth in the WikiLeaks saga. Julian Assange is the target of American character assassination. The sophistication and sophistry in trying to gun him down are first class, standard operating procedure out of the textbook. Luckily Assange is an Australian, a member of the tribe. So the disparaging attack is not homogenous. Some of the tribe members are revolting. Australia is also attempting a weak defence or it would not go down well with its people and the friends of Assange. The western media are split and not sure which direction to take. This is not common enemey like the case of Liu Xiaobo. In the latter, the wolf pack simply closed ranks to train their cross hair at China. Assange is a bit complicated. Here there is a case of a state abusing its authority, violation of human rights, rights of an individual, freedom of the press, justice and fair play, compromising the judicial system, fabricating evidence, all rolled into one. And there is also the lynching of one’s own kind. A bit messy definitely. The world should sit back and watch this spectacle unfold. (Please be reminded of the silence as a clever little country and its leaders are now in deep shit trying to extricate itself out of the shit hole, all by itself. No one cares or is willing to give this little country a helping hand. Don’t belong to the same tribe, I think.)

The Robbers are coming

The Europeans are getting wiser to the game of the robbers. They are going to stop them from robbing the banks and the people of their hard earned money. Stringent laws are going to be put in place to prevent the robbers from robbing the banks to pay themselves crazy. And only the govt can do it. They are going to curb on the huge bonuses which the robbers have got so used to. No multi million dollar bonuses can ever be enough. And they will scheme and worm their ways to getting more. Only the US is still allowing the robbers to operate quite freely. And they can only do so with their accomplices in the govt. The robbers are threatening to flee to more hospitable and unthinking Asian countries like Singapore and Hong Kong. Singapore is likely to be the first to open its doors widely to welcome them. The stupidity of Singapore is infamous in the financial world in terms of overpaying all kinds of craps and robbers with huge sums of money. Gullible is a disease here. This is accentuated by the mantra that foreign talents are best or betterer, and are worth every cent of their weight in gold. Who knows, the recruiting party could already be in Europe now and talking to the robbers and offering them generous terms, and agreeing to terms dictated by the robbers. What is wrong with that? They are paying good money for good talents. Even if they are robbers, if they know how to rob well, the owners will get a bigger cut of the loot. What if the robbers rob the people or citizens instead? The ignorant masses must not be duped continuously as if paying huge sums of money to robbers is harmless. Eventually everything comes to them. Someone has to pay big for the robbers to receive big. And that someone has no name except that he or she will likely be known as the people or the masses. The prices of everything will go up, the cost of living will go up. Everything is interconnected and forms part of the system which the robbers thrive in. Roll out the red carpet quick, the robbers are coming.

A friend he is not

China called him an old friend, an affectionate term for a good friend one has known for many years. He learnt and spoke Chinese and was every inch a gentleman, from the exterior. To win the trust of the Chinese he even called himself a Chinese name. And he became a Prime Minister. His unfaithfulness or dishonourable conduct was revealed when he spoke to the Americans. Without WikiLeaks, his bad mouthing of his friend will not be known. And his friend will still hold him dearly as a good friend. Now his true self is known and he can’t hide anymore. He had told the Americans to wage war against China if China did not bow to American pressure and did not tow the line. This must be quite shocking to the Chinese. They must have felt betrayed. Would they still regard him as a friend? The initial for his Chinese name is LKW. That’s Kevin Rudd. WilkiLeaks is making many people redfaced. Can Australia be a part of Asia? Who is recommending Australia to be part of Asean?

The Proof that the spammers are more than just spammers

Last few weeks redbeanforum was attacked by a flood of supposedly innocent advertisements for bags, shoes and electronic goods. Each spammer could hit a few hundred posts at one go, on every new threads in the page. A lot of effort to just do that. My response is to barred everyone from posting except the moderators. But I leave a hole for the supposedly keen advertisers to keep on posting in a section specially for them to post their adverstisements. Guess what? They gave up posting. All I had was one miserable advertisement posted there. What happens? Don't they no longer want to post their advertisements? The ill intent of the spammers is loud and clear. They are not just spammers or advertisers. They have a different and sinister motive. The only way, and best way, is simply to lock them out completely. The next thing they can hope to do is to kill my forum completely. Any genuine forumers can private message me to post in redbeanforum. I will allow them access by designating them as moderators for the time being. Oh they are still attacking mysingaporenews with a lot of porn postings. I hope Blogger will do something to their firewalls.

For those who have, more shall be given to them

Christians must be quietly smiling at this quote. This has been spoken by God a few thousand years back and they know. The truth of the statement is there for all to see. The rich shall get richer is the natural law of God. With their wealth, the rich could only multiply them at much faster rate than those who are struggling to earn their money through muscles. How easy it is to buy a property at $1m and loo behold, two years down the road it becomes $1.5m, reaping a profit of $500k. This amount may take a worker a life time to earn but would be spent everyday leaving him with nothing to spare. Many folks are earning tens or hundreds of thousands without have to exercise the muscles of their limbs. See how comfortable they are to write that cheque for the $60k COE or the $500k down payment for the landed property! On the other hand the losers are complaining about kopi going to cost 20c more per cuppa! For those who have, more shall be given goes further than this. Some of those who have tens of millions, hundreds of millions, will still be given millions without having to work, in the form of pensions or gratuities, when they don’t need a single cent more to live in the lap of luxury. There are many such lucky people around whose lives are so blessed. But God is cheeky and cynical too. He also said, ‘The meek shall inherit the earth.’ Of course he is joking. How could that be when those who have shall have more and those who don’t have shall have less? The message to the meek is simply, fat hope. The meek shall always live on hope while they live a wasted life of not enough. That is the painful truth of life. No escape.

Thomas Friedman singing praises for the American Empire

He lamented what a world would be if America could not project power the way it has in an article in the ST today. He said ‘your’ kids won’t grow up in a different America but will grow up in a different world. Die, American kids are going to get walloped if America could not wallop the rest of the world. He is worried that American kids would not be able to push everyone around. He fears a China and the likes of Julian Assange, who could carry as much weight as America. He fears a multi polar world that would not benefit the American kids that much but also the kids of other countries, notably other powers like China, India, Brazil, Russia and the Europeans. And that is simply bad. He was disgusted that China could exercise so much power to keep countries from attending the circus in Norway when Liu Xiaobo was the celebrated clown for the day, and in the company of greater clowns. And China could do it without the use of the aircraft carriers and fighter bombers, but just simple economic power. And he called this an act of perversity, that China is equated as a failed state abusing its new found power, irresponsible is the word. What about America forcing its allies to go to war in Iraq and other theatres of war, in a Coalition of the Unwiling? The American allies have no choice but being muscled in to kill people, invade countries, execute regime change, and be accomplices to the infamous Guantanamo Camp where freedom and human rights were never heard of. And these were the acts of the Evil Empire which he approved of. America is exceedingly responsible as a super power in doing all these things. Make a comparison between China exercising its economic power in not attending a circus and America exercising its military power in commiting acts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Which is more IRRESPONSIBLE, and more oppressive, abominable? How long and how much more must Asians be preached with such sermons from the West, particularly from the Americans, whose only concern is for their own good. What is good to the Americans, and cruel to others, is still good. What is not good to the Americans, no matter how civil, is not good. Should the world continue to live with such condescending American logic?

A return to govt service

The privatisation of hospitals, public transportation and housing is starting to show how serious this mistake is. Essential services cannot be left to the free market to determine how much the consumers should pay. The market forces, if only it is real, is only concerned with profits, and profits and nothing else. The only principle that governs private business is how much the consumer is willing to pay or how much the seller of services and products can squeeze out from the consumers. As long as there are consumers able to pay, it is affordable, at least to those who can afford to pay. A $100k COE is affordable to the one who can afford it. A $1m 3 rm flat is affordable if there are people who are willing to pay for it. Resources, limited resources, are allocated according to what the market dictates, as being the most efficient and effective. Really? However, for sure, resources will not be allocated to those who need it most if they cannot afford to pay. And the haughty and cocky explanation is that one has to pay for it at market determined price.. If one cannot afford it, go for substitutions, downgrade, or tighten the belt. At the bottom of it all, if one cannot afford to pay, one does not deserve anything, even goods at inflated prices.. To overcome such inequalities, to the rich and powerful these are not inequalities, there are govts, not necessarily socialists, who would want to intervene to better allocate the resources to the needy. I would like to make a call for essential services to be returned to the govt, place under the charge of the public sector. My reservation is that govt services are run by incompetents and any services they provide will be inefficient and ineffective. If this assumption that public servants are all incompetents and useless, which was the justification for privatisation, then it is like the frying pan and the deep blue sea. This is a strange phenomenon as our govt services are staffed by the best talents in the island. As economic system approaches the end of the capitalist road, the communists will say, I told you so. The capitalist road will lead to its own destruction and a revolution of the under class is the natural anti thesis.

Singapore in a state of siege or self denial?

Through WikiLeaks we must have offended many countries in Asean and Asia. From India and Myanmar through Thailand and Japan, from China and North Korea in the north and down south to Malaysia and Taiwan in the East, they cannot be too pleased with what we said about them. George Yeo said that these were just cocktail gossips, not worth bothering about, should not be troubled by them. Our relations with the countries affected would not be affected. That is our version of how WikiLeaks affect us and our friends. What are our blastered friends thinking now? Would they regard the WikiLeaks in the way we do and dismiss them as nothing serious, or nothing that they will lose any sleep for? If they do, then it is just like a tropical thunderstorm that would not last more than an hour. The weather will be fine again. What if the affected countries are seething in rage? Would they, could they or should they? Would there be any consequences? So far only Malaysia has openly displayed their displeasure and, thankfully, no stone throwing across from the causeway. Our improving relations have bore fruits. The silence from the other capitals is quite uncharacteristic of what could be expected. Is the reticence real or several protest notes are already on the tables of George Yeo and Hsien Loong? It has been rumoured that LKY is going to make a comment on the WikiLeaks’ exposure on Singapore. Is this an indication that we are already in a state of siege and a response or an apology is in the cards? Singapore has been hit in the most unexpected manner at a most inappropriate time. All systems were go for the coming general election. A slate of wonderful things are lined up with nice happenings that would make the govt look good are waiting to be rolled out. Now out of the blue, the govt is in a damage control mode. The WikiLeaks is more than just an embarrassment and irritation. It has given the election campaign cart a big jolt when things were just getting comfortable. Maybe I am drawing too much inference from nothing. Maybe there is really nothing to it and things are as normal as before. I can be dense at times.

A few pictures of ION in Orchard Rd

It is never too late when JUSTICE begs to be heard!

Europe urged to recognise slavery as crime Tue, May 04, 2010 AFP PARIS - Historians and anti-racism campaigners are to urge the countries that oversaw and profited from the Atlantic slave trade to recognise it as a crime against humanity, opening the way for reparations. Next week, activists are to send a letter to the leaders of Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain asking them to recognise the trade as an historic injustice a century and a half after it ended. They have already convinced France to do so. Click here to find out more!Click here to find out more! The European Memorial Foundation for the Slave Trade will launch the appeal at the French Senate on May 10, backed by the French historian Louis Sala-Molins and John Franklin from the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. "There are several reasons for this, including its symbolic value, to restore the memory of this crime against humanity," Karfa Diallo, chairman of the foundation, told AFP. "There's also a question, shall we say, of justice," he said....

Good grades equal to nerds

Reading the article by Sandra Davie in the ST today, I can’t help but come to the conclusion that students who did well in tests and examinations, with good grades, are all nerds and lack creativity. Also they often do not do well in life. This is the biggest problem in Singapore’s education system. Though we bragged about how world class it is, how other countries are copying our teaching material, and how our students are able to score straight As everywhere, even winning international competitions, in Science, Maths, General Knowledge and also in Law, don’t expect much from them when they grow up. All these will come to nothing as they enter the adult world. Many are destined to fail or become underachievers in real life. Then where can we find all the creative and innovative people in Singapore? One sure place not to find them is the elite schools. Try the kitchens, the football fields, the night clubs, the world of the celebrities, there must be many creative and successful people in these fields. We need more Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, failure academically but big success in life. Personally I doubt they will not be able to score straight As if they wanted to. This is the secret to creativity and success. We should throw out our top students half way through universities and give them a job in the industries. That is the sure way to trigger their creativity and later be successful innovators and inventors. There is no need for elite schools and top universities as their products will only be so so. Parents of children who did not do well in schools must be relieved that their children will be the ones with more creativity and be more successful in life later. This is about the only piece of good news from the article.

Talking about insensitivity

Bilahari Kausikan, the Permanent Secretary of MFA, is reported to be leading a delegation to KL to discuss the final phase of the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station land swap deal. Bilahari’s name is also in the lips of many Malaysians for what was reported in American diplomatic sting operations and leaked by WikiLeaks. His views and comments on Malaysia and Malaysian leadership were anything but complimentary. And if there is anything that the Malaysians would want to do with him, it is best not mentioned. For Singapore to send Bilahari to KL for such an important meeting so soon after the WikiLeaks revelation can be seen as being confident that Malaysia and Malaysians will be able to put them aside and negotiate professionally and objectively. It also rule up the discomfort by individuals that often behave strangely because of their own personalities and the baggage they carried with them. These must be the assessment from the Singapore side. Let’s hope the assessment is right and the negotiation goes well under Bilahari’s leadership. His diplomatic skills will be put to a tough test. I am just wondering what he will say to the Malaysians to appease them and be on top of the problem. People have been complaining that Singapore and Singaporeans are arrogant and insensitive. I say no, Singapore and Singaporeans are not arrogant and insensitive. They are just very arrogant and very insensitive. But I think I may be wrong. I really hope so.

Bilahari leading high power delegation to KL

The Star, 14 December 2010 SINGAPORE’S most senior Foreign Ministry official Bilahari Kausikan is heading for Kuala Lumpur on Dec 22 as a leader of a delegation to discuss KTM Berhad’s land swap deal in Singapore agreed in May by the Prime Ministers of the two countries.... This is going to be an interesting meeting for Bilahari. The Malaysians may want to feast him with durians after what he had said about their leadership.

A good piece of advice from ST

The ST Editorial commented on China’s Nobel prize anger as overdone. It said no need to be like that lah. For a great nation that is confident of itself, it should just simply ignored the little country called Norway and its award of the prize to Liu Xiaobo. I also agree. Why get so work up by a silly bunch of people in the Nobel Peace Prize Committee? The same piece of advice is relevant to the WikiLeaks fiasco. All the great nations that are confident of themselves should simply ignore all the leaks even if they embarrassed them. Treat them as some rubbish coming out from small people and ignore them. Then peace and calm shall return to the whole world. And the Americans will find that their effort in throwing a spanner into the world of diplomacy an effort in vain. Great and confident nations should be able to see through the evil scheme and remain calm, not to be provoked into making the situation any worst. Are there any great and confident nations out there that will take this advice seriously?

Good names for MRT stations

We have Phoenix, Petir and Pending in the Bukit Panjang LRT line. We are going to have Kadaloor, Coral Edge and Riviera in Sengkang. The ST asked whether these names ring a bell. I heard a thud. Maybe I shall offer a few nice sounding names that will ring a bell. Obama ok? Harry Potter should definitely ring a bell if Obama doesn’t. Mickey Mouse will be music to the children. Buckingham Palace, this should sound glorifying. Pavarotti is another excellent name for a train station. ‘You have arrived at Pavarotti Station.’ OK, OK, I got carried away a bit. Do we have a basis in selecting names for MRT stations? Old landmarks are acceptable. Honouring our historical personalities is also OK. But how to relate to Devan Nair Station in Sengkang? Did Devan lived there before, his birth place, or any institution or landmark that reminds people of him there? A better way out is to hold a naming contest. But don’t engage the professional agencies. They will charge a million bucks for a name. Get the people to suggest and the winners be awarded with a prizes. $1000 for each station name accepted. There will be many participants and the involvement of the people will make them feel proud and comfy with the names they have chosen. Let me guess what the people will choose. The kids will like Valkrie, Ironman or Spiderman. The youth would love to call the station Angelina Jolie or Christie Chung. Who are they anyway? The aunties would be crazy with names like Baey Yong Joon. But those aunties in the grassroot organizations would probably vote in favour of Lim Sway Say or Lim Boon Heng. The well heeled and well travelled may want things like Metzingen, Baden Baden, Marienplatz or something like that. Come to think of it, finding a good name for a station is not easy huh. Better leave it to the supertalents and live with Kadaloor, Coral Edge and Riviera. Never mind if they don’t ring a bell. One final attempt, Timbuktu!

American allies forced to show hands

What WikiLeaks said about Singaporean leaders? Hmmm, I declared that I am a Singaporean and I must always say good things about my country and our leaders. It is tough to say not so nice things about them. I can’t call them sneaky or that they have said stupid things. It is very difficult to say it in a diplomatic way that will come out as reasonable and acceptable to the readers after what the Americans have leaked on them. The hallmark of Singapore is all about standing on high moral grounds. Be responsible and respectable in what we say and do. WikiLeaks destroyed all that. Or the Americans destroyed all that. George Yeo was embarrassed and his peers in the other countries may not want to talk to him anymore. If they do, it will be about playing golf or food and wine. He has to, after seeing the horror of the information being pasted on the pages of our own media. There is no where to hide. It is everywhere in the internet for all to see. And more dirty laundry will be aired. Perhaps George Yeo may want to despatch a special envoy to all the countries we called friends and explain to them that the bad things we said about them in confidence must be respected. They are not supposed to know. Let’s put all this aside and move on. After all, if not taken out of context the vulgar comments meant well. Back at MFA he may want to issue a new directive, that we should not bad mouth any country or their leaders even when spoken in confidence. We must expect that they will be leaked to compromise our relations with our friends. And the red flag must be flown once we have to talk to the American diplomats. They are so dangerous that with them as friends we don’t need enemies anymore. And tell Tommy and Bilahari and whoever, no need to explain what they have said. It would only make things worst. Keeping quiet is the best thing to do now. Better, dig a hole in the ground and bury their heads in it. It is a very painful lesson to be learnt at this stage of their lives, to be betrayed by their trusted friends in America. Do we still have any friends left? Can leaders of other countries trust us anymore? What WikiLeaks have done is to stop the gossipings and bad mouthing behind the backs of other countries. And Singapore not only has a swelled head and ego to match in dispensing political wisdom, now has two swelled black eyes to complete the image.

The US attacks its allies

The US has launched the most massive and destructive attack on its allies through the WilkiLeaks. It has created an ill feeling throughout the whole diplomatic community. No one is spared. OK, not really. A few of the US core allies are practically free from any embarrassing leaks. Those that suffered the most from the leaks are peripheral allies or allies that attempt to balance their relationship between the US and China. Countries like Singapore, even Australia, will be fixed very nicely and will suffer an unkind fate for being an American ally. They will have a hard time trying to appease China and to mend their relationship. It will never be the same again. The party that benefited most from the fracas is the US of course. Countries that fell victims should return the American kindness by having their own version of WikiLeaks and see how red the faces of the Americans will be. For the time being the Americans must be having a good laugh at the silly political leaders that were foolish enough to have confidence in the Americans and that the Americans will not compromise them at any cost. They are now left to lick their own wounds. They are simply dispensable. Could the leak be prevented? Why were there no leaks from other countries? Were the security systems of other countries more superior than the Americans? It cannot be, the US is the most sophisticate military power and guarding their own electronic/cable communications with all kinds of complicated codes, cannot be easily penetrated. And their CIAs and all the intelligent agencies are world best. How could the leak have gone to far and so big? It will be ridiculous to think that the Chinese communication security system is far more superior to the Americans. Or for that matter, Singapore or any third world countries. Let’s have a few leaks on what the Americans say to their allies, to the Israelis, Japanese and South Koreans, or to Saudi Arabia, or to the European nations. The attack on its allies through WikiLeaks is a precedent that the Americans have set and they will have to pay for it. They cannot get away Scot free from this kind of black operations. For one, they have proven to be unreliable and dangerous as an ally. They cannot be trusted.