PAP reinventing itself

More new faces and ministers promoted. The cabinet will look brand new if more faces are changed. Probably some skeletons would also be moved out and forgotten comes 2016. And with the liabilities gone, PAP would then be more confident when the GE comes around. By then, the PAP would be able to throw in a minister to any weak GRC to win the election. And with so many ministers promoted, there will be many more to throw around. If one is not enough, throw in two to make it heavier.

This new change is a shrewd move as the current batch of ministers is looking very feeble to carry any GRC under their wings. With promising ministers like Chan Chun Sing, Grace Fu, Tan Chuan Jin, Lawrence Wong in charge, plus a few younger Senior Ministers of State, there is now a new and exciting team to carry the PAP flag, full of promise.

Things are looking brighter for the PAP with this innovative change. Instead of cheaper, faster and better, it is like, younger, nicer and cleaner. And Sinkieland will have a brighter future to look forward to. This is good reason to celebrate the National Day with Love at First Sight.  Let the party rock.

Olympics - The reemergence of the Koreans

What is so great about a rich first world country winning a bronze medal (no intent to rub down our achievement) when a country repeatedly branded by the ignorant self proclaimed experts in the West, including Sinkie experts as ‘abject poverty stricken country’ could win 4 gold medals and 1 bronze at this stage of the Olympic Games? Who is having the last laugh and who is calling the bluff?

Yes the ‘poor and poverty stricken’ North Koreans, all starving, where got energy to do anything, have won 4 gold medals! Believe it, is it true? The disbelievers will claim it is a lie. The Brits will claim it must be the works of drugs. Like it or not, the North Koreans is shaming many rich countries in the Olympics.

At this point in time they have more gold medals than Japan, Italy, Germany, Russia, Australia, Netherlands and many of the countries that are used to sneer at them.

And between the North and South Koreans they have a combined haul of 11 gold medals against 14 won by the Americans and 18 by the Chinese, ranking number 3 in the Medal tally ranking. The Koreans have arrived. They are going to take on the world and show the world that the Koreans can be high achievers.

Imagine France only had 7 and Great Britain has 4 and mighty Germany, Russia and Italy each with only 3. And Japan, Korea’s colonial master has only 2 gold medals.

Well done Koreans.

Is there a choice between smaller and bigger population?

“If Singapore depends on the talent it can produce out of three million people, it’s not going to punch above its weight. Lee Kuan Yew

We were 1m, then 2m, then 3m before we added all the foreigners to 5.6m. When we were 1m and 2m, we were already producing the talents that built the foundation for our economic miracles. We were producing talented Singaporeans even then. Unless those were not talents, then we are just slapping our own stupid face.

Now we are more than 5m. Did the increased population with foreign talents, throw out any great talents? The only foreign talent that is worth mentioning is Olivia Lum of Hyflux. The rest were plain employees, sitting on their fat asses and getting fat pay which any Singaporeans can also do so given the chance. Many of the CEO positions can easily be filled by Singaporeans and you will not see any difference in performance, maybe even better.

The three local banks were built by Singaporean talents. Without local talents there would not be any big local banks to think of. SIA, SMRT, Creative, Singtel were also locals. Not sure about Temasek and GIC but their startup fund is definitely local. The hospitals with their specialists and state of the art equipments were mainly run by Singaporeans and Malaysians. By the way, I think Singaporeans have never regarded the Malaysians as foreigners historically.

Did we produce lesser talents when we were 1m and 2m than we are now? There are some great talents in R and D. But these are instant trees. Would their offsprings be more talented than the offsprings of coolies and labourers, washerwomen and salesmen? What about the risk of offsprings from fake papers and fake talents?

If we have not over aspired to go for 6m and more, we would not be pressurised to create more jobs and ended with the two casinos. We would not be so desperate in our need for water and power and flirting with the risks of a nuclear solution to our ever growing need for more and cheaper source of energy. No need to talk about hyper inflation, high cost of living, high property prices, congestion, inability to own a car etc etc. All these problems are the negative effects of high population. Growth is good but not by increasing population indefinitely. It is a time bomb that must blow up if we don’t stop the population growth. It is not only a time bomb for this little rock but for Gaia, if population growth is not stopped.

What is so bad about a smaller population with lower growth, but real productivity growth, and a better quality of life, with more space for everyone and a lower cost of living?

What is price fixing?

Below is copied from the Competition Commission of Singapore’s website.

‘ A particularly serious type of anti-competitive agreement would be those made by cartels. Cartel agreements are usually to fix prices, to rig competitive tendering process, to divide up markets or to limit production. As a result, the cartelists have little or no incentive to lower prices or provide better quality goods or services. Based on economic studies, cartels overcharge by 30 per cent on average. There are four main types of cartel agreements:

• Price Fixing

Price fixing involves competitors agreeing to fix, control or maintain the prices of goods or services. It can be ‘direct’ fixing of prices, where there is an agreement to increase or maintain actual prices. Price fixing activities can also take the form of ‘indirect’ fixing of prices, for example, where competitors agree to offer the same discounts or credit terms. Price fixing agreements do not have to be in writing, a verbal understanding at, for instance a trade association meeting or at a social event, may be sufficient to show that there was a price fixing agreement. It does not matter how the agreement was reached or whether it has been carried out. What matters is that the competitors have agreed to collude.’

On 29 Jul 12, it was reported that 7 Town Councils announced that they would be revising Service and Conservancy Charges in their respective areas. My first impression is that here is a cartel of 7 Town Councils working together to fix prices at the same time. But then again, I think these Town Councils would know what price fixing is all about and knowing the law, they would be well advised not to violate it. Further, they are not commercial enterprises but govt or semi govt agencies and price fixing offence may not be applicable even if they did have some agreements to raise their fees together with or without any intention to fix prices.

As a layman, I would be hard pressed to try to interpret and understand what is price fixing by a cartel and whether in this instance there is any, or whether the Town Councils are guilty of price fixing. I have no reason to doubt the integrity of these govt officials and would believe that they have done the correct and proper thing and there is thus no price fixing.

52 years of fantasising come true

The Olympic medal finally arrived after 52 years of waiting since Howe Liang did us proud in Rome in 1960. We can now feel it, touch it, kiss it and pray to it. Maybe a little shrine shall be built for the public to visit these two medals, to touch them for good luck or something like that. On hindsight, who are the people craving for such a medal in the first place? The men in the street, the Ah Kongs and the Ah Mahs, the Ah Ter and the Ah Kow, the sports fraternity, the adolescence or the mature oldies? We have been talking about this craving for an Olympic medal but who is the one that wanted it so badly to spend so much money for it? How much has been spent, must be ‘very much’ taking into account the logistics, medical and training support, coaches, food, training expenses, salaries and rewards etc, not just for Feng Tianwei but for the whole gang of players and supporting staff over so many years.

One thing for sure, no Sinkie sportsman or woman would want it so badly to sacrifice time and effort to go through a very tough and discipline regime to be world champions. The Chinese factories and other European factories are churning up champions by a very thorough full time process from a very young age. I don’t think any Sinkie or Sinkie parents would want to put their wards through the regime.

Anyway, the medal has arrived. Where to go from here? Would this be so exciting to stimulate people to want more, or would want to go for the gold and spend more money and resources for it? Or would people said, okay, enough of fantasies and youthful infatuation, time to grow up, no need to keep up with the Joneses. Let’s move on to more serious things in life? Some may want to use this medal as a springboard to go ahead in a big way. Some may want to tone it down or want to spend the money on the real Sinkies. And if no real Sinkies want it bad enough to put in the effort, then the money can be better spent on the welfare of the people in other areas.

Sports is about sporting spirit and competition. It would be acceptable too if it could be turned into a commercial enterprise like the European Football Leagues, creating jobs and generating revenue. But if it is a cost centre and for a little bit of glory, is it worth the expenditure, effort and resources? Do we want to go for more medals in the same way?

PS. There have been many negative remarks made about these imported sports talents. I think it is unfair as they are here because we asked them to be here. If any country would to offer any Sinkie such attractive terms it is fair for the Sinkie to accept the offer. They are not to be blamed, just like the FTs that are here. The person to take the blame should be the one that opened the legs wide wide.

PS, the 52 years wait is a mistake. Singapore won a silver medal in table tennis women's team event in 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Quote of the Day – Justice Philip Pillai

"There is no requirement in the Constitution to call elections to fill elected Member vacancies," - Justice Philip Pillai

The much awaited decision of the Vellama Muthu versus the PM case is out. And it is now clear, a ruling by a high court judge, that according to the Constitution, there is no need to fill the vacancies of a constituency if it is empty for whatever reasons. And the judge also ruled that the PM has absolute discretion whether to call an election to fill the vacancy of an elected Member.

Is that the final answer? Apparently yes. Can make a call for help? An appeal against this interpretation of the law? I don’t think there will be any other interpretation unless the Constitution is amended. So the people would now have to live with a constituency without an elected MP if the bugger buzzed off during his term of office for some reasons until the PM decided otherwise.

That must be the intention of the Constitution and must be good for the people. Constituents who go voting must now think doubly hard when they go to the poll. They must check the health and conduct of the candidate before voting just in case the bugger mati half way or kenna exposed for something and force to resign. Then they can be left with no MP throughout the term.

The legislators must have seriously thought through this before writing the law into the Constitution, and this is good for the people and country. And technically if after 3 days of an election, an MP is knocked out for some reasons, just too bad. Under the Constitution and under this latest judicial interpretation, it is possible to have no MP to serve the constituents.

SGX targeting the heartlanders

SGX is mounting a public campaign to educate the heartlanders to invest in the stock market. One thing unsaid is that the market is very sick and there is an urgent need for an injection of morphine before the market turns into a cold turkey. I said morphine injection and not tonic as more innocent traders entering the market, if they take the bait, will only be a temporary respite. The market would still go into a coma and then mortis rigour if nothing is done to look at the real causes of its bad health.

What has happened to a flourishing market that saw hundreds of thousands of investors vigorously trading daily but vanished into thin air and the market looking like a cemetery on a weekday? Where have all the investors gone and why?

There is something very sinister in the dying market. Is this due to the uncertainties in the collapsing world economy, the financial system, or is it something local and systemic? Or is it that the products are unworthy or unfit for consumption? It is important to understand the causes of this pathetic state of the market before bringing innocent and naïve heartlanders to trade in a market that is more like a casino, dominated by computers and the big boys. Someone once advised that traders cannot trade against Robocop or the computers and hoping to come up tops.

The heartlanders are not the super rich that have easy money to splash and to lose. Their little savings or spare cash are blood and sweat money and if they are encouraged to trade in a stock market, their interests must be protected at all cost. Does anyone want to know what happened to all the traders in the market? Where have they gone, what happened to them and why were they no longer in the market?

This could be a good place to start and the answers could reveal the causes of the dying market and what needs to be done before bringing in the sheep for the slaughter.

Is there anything wrong with the market? This is a spooky question that begs to be answered.

My grandfather’s company

My grandfather’s company is the place for happy people. All the employees are absolutely happy, at least in their pay and bonuses. There are so many MDs that I have lost count. And there are more presidents than the country has. We have no problem creating good and high value jobs and every talented employee will be promoted to MDs and presidents in double quick time. Money is never an issue. My grandfather pays for it. Just don’t ask where my grandfather finds the money.

I know that many eager beavers are waiting in a long queue to join my grandfather’s company. But sorry to say, employment is by invitations only. And being my grandfather’s company, a little purple blood will make entry and promotion that much faster. My grandfather loves that kind of things.

And there is never short of cash. So promotion is always a happy and easy thing to do. And if any MD or president is not too happy with his or her pay, my grandfather will just add a few more appointments in the name cards, and the unhappy employee will walk away merrily.

Nobody wants to leave my grandfather’s company once they have joined. And we have a policy of not firing anyone. How could that be when everyone is so talented, so devoted and so self sacrificing? My grandfather’s company is the best company in the Top 100 companies of the world. It is a dream company.

Integration, an exercise in futility

What or who are Sinkies supposed to integrate with, the foreign workers, maids, the EP talents, definitely not the real super foreign talents? The latter no need to integrate. Or are the Sinkies supposed to integrate only with the new citizens and PRs or with all of them?

Not only this is a problem, there are many conditions and developments that made integration just that unrealistic. Those who remembered, we used to have Integrated Schools in the 60s and 70s, to integrate our young as people of a nation. That was the right place to start with, the impressionable young. And from schools to working life, there will be plenty of time to get to know each other even as acquaintance. We have achieved some degree of social cohesion over the years, over many years, not days. And we have a people, though of various races, but already here for generations and quite adapted to the culture and social norms.

Life then was quite different too. There was no rat race and people generally have a lot of free time to socialize, to visit one another. Life style today is so hectic. The working adults would be working their guts out to make a living and to pay high mortgages. After work, they would be so exhausted that there would be no time for anything. They even have problems to spend quality time with their child or children. Still got time to integrate with foreigners? The rich have a lot of time, but with a lot of amusements to keep them busy and occupied. Integrating with the foreigners would be the last thing on their mind.

The young would be busy studying and trying to get good grades. Any time available would be spent integrating with their little machine, Iphone, Ipod, Ipad and computers. They don’t have time for anything else.

The only group left with all the time in the world to integrate with the foreigners would be the retirees, the uncles and aunties. Then again, would the young foreign workers and maids want to integrate with them? I know for sure, the maids and foreign workers would be busily integrating among themselves. The remainder of the foreign adults would be in Little India or Geylang trying to socialize and be happy.

Who else is there with all the time in the world to want to integrate? The middle executives, both locals and foreign would not have the time nor the interest to want to socialize. What ever little precious time left would be for sleeping and catching up with their little hobbies or preoccupations.

By the way, you don’t say integrate and lo behold, the people are dancing and hugging each other all over. Integration is a long term process that would not happen overnight like instant trees. The foreign workers and maids, even the middle executives are transient workers and residents and many would not be here for long. And who is going to pay for the time and effort to integrate? Time is money and integration also cost money.

Integration seems like a magic word to some, like go forth and multiply.

GIC and Temasek’s annualised returns revised?

In the media today, GIC has confirmed that its 20 year annualized rate of return was only 3.9% and Temasek’s was 15%. Who is spreading the misinformation that their returns were 17% annualized? How did people got such a fantastic figure that no fund managers would dare to claim? 17% annualized! Unbelieveable, incredible, insanity!

Oh, I remember that Professor Balding was using this number to compute the missing $160b in the national reserves of the island. At 17%, where have the $160b gone, he asked? There is a big dark hole somewhere that is concealing this fat chunk of money.

Now the mystery is solved. With the declared official numbers of GIC at a meagre 3.9%, less than the payout for CPF’s Retirement Account, GIC may be incurring a loss if the money is borrowed from CPF. And CPF’s annualized returns over 20 years must be much more as the earlier returns were much higher. I think if any funds were to park their money with me, I could guarantee 4% return over 20 years too. And I am not a super talent and need no super talented salaries.

Temasek’s 15% is still a stunting number for 20 years. So the mysterious $160 b could be lowered to perhaps $60b to $80b unaccounted. This is just a wild guesstimate if there was really a $160b missing in the books.

Prof Balding will now have to justify how he got the 17% number and what would now be the new missing cash hoard. It would definitely be less than the $160b that he came out with after scouring over the two funds past financial statements.

What else is new?

M&A will not help selling snake oil

Many financial freaks and fraudsters tried to pass themselves as financial genius by scrambling for more M&A to grow their sick companies. They tried to acquire or merge with other presumingly better managed and viable companies by using their cash hoards. In the short term it looks good on paper that the company is so much bigger and with more products or services available, and more sources of income.

The problem is that what is real is real and what is snake oil is still snake oil. Companies selling snake oil will see their customer base dwindle and their revenue falling daily. The customers either got fed up with the snake oil and refuse to buy anymore, or may have been poisoned and are dying or dead. Without a broad base of customers to support a company, to buy and consume its products and services, no amount of gimmicks in M&A will work or will last. What is the point of a mammoth company through M&As, offering more snake oil when there is no customer?

A rotten company selling snake oil is still a rotten company selling snake oil and will lose its customers in no time. Customers can be cheated once, twice but not thrice. Those who continue to be cheated will also ended up in the critically ill list.

Companies have to be real and sell the real stuff, the good stuff, the stuff that are of real values to their customers. Cheating customers with snake oil is like cheating themselves. The company will be run to the ground. The only survival, unfortunately, will be the snake oil sellers that come and go, peddling their snake oil as the panacea to all company ills. How long can snake oil sellers hold their bluff? It depends on the real owners of the company, the employers. If the employers are dafter than the snake oil sellers and willingly be deceived by the snake oil sellers, the bluff could be sustained for a long time as the daft owners would not know that they are being duped. By the time they worked up it would be too late.

Think Barclay, JP Morgan, think New York Stock Exchange, and many more. And when nothing is done to flush out a rotten system and getting rid of the snake oil, no amount of feedback and window dressing can help.

When tolerance becomes unbearable

Are the people angry with the govt? The govt will conveniently say, ‘What do you think?’ And they will say no problem when they did not hear any complaints, deliberately, by choice or being shielded by their feedback organs from hearing the complaints.

The Sinkies have been very tolerant of the abuses against them, their CPF being treated like tax and taken from them without their consent, the ridiculous high prices of public housing, the outrageous COE prices that put many average Sinkies out of reach to own a car when a car is an essential item to make life easier to get by. The influx of millions of foreigners that was shafted down their throats as good for them when everyone knows who they are good to and who really benefitted from this excesses. The high cost of living, the penalties and discriminations of being citizens while foreigners are given all the advantages to live better, get better jobs than the locals. Some given citizenship and appointed to high positions just to show that they are Sinkies and not foreigners. Despite all the flaws in obviously stupid and nonsensical policies, the citizens swallowed them like bitter pills as long as they could bear with them.

The tolerance of the citizens is breaking. A point is reached like the straw that broke the camel’s back. Everything, every nonsense, every ridiculous policies and their flaws will no longer be tolerated. The people used to be very polite by acting dumb and ignorant and allowed jokers to blare how clever they were. Now the Sinkies are so angry that they are calling a spade a spade, a donkey a donkey. Flawed policies and idiots are being paraded boldly.

Take the example of a letter by Tan Kin Lian, I think this is the same Tan Kin Lian who stood as a presidential candidate, in Today’s Voices. He not only made suggestions about what needs to be done to make the COE more equitable and fairer to all citizens, he pointedly spoke about the flaws of lesser intelligent and responsible people making those policies and regulations. How this flawed system could go on for so long is a manifestation of how tolerant Sinkies are.

Many have written to the media with very good and practical recommendations but all ignored by the gods. The gods only think that they are capable of making good decisions and policies. Whatever written by the people in the media, or spoken up to be heard were ignored. Then they would come out and shout from the podium, please tell us, please give us feedback, please help us to solve the problems. All the comments and recommendations in the main media and social media were not comments, recommendations or feedback. It is as if the people have all been so quiet and did not tell the govt of their pains and complaints.

Feedback is only feedback when they asked for it, and must be channeled to the little hole they put up. Only then would they regard them as feedback. But what happens to this feedback, only god knows.

The issue of housing and car ownership are hurting the people very badly and personally. The people are saying enough is enough to the rubbish regulations and policies which they all know are stupid and flawed but were willing to bear with them as long as they are within a certain threshold of pain. Now the tolerable is no longer bearable and the anger is showing.

The normally quite, unassuming, unthinking and apparently daft Sinkies are standing up and saying, ‘We are not stupid’. The policies are daft, flawed and like what Tan Kin Lian said, ‘Let us have responsible people to make the judgement of appropriate COE prices, rather than leave this to market vagaries and speculations. He fell short of saying people who made the flawed policies are irresponsible.

Why would an obviously intelligent girl….

Why would Darinne Ko kiss and tell? She is smart, got her good grades and the future is all so bright for her. She could become a top notch lawyer, be called up for tea and may end up as a law minister. Why would she want to ruin everything? Now with her name in everyone’s lips and her photograph pasted every for all the wrong reasons, what good is she going to get from this laundry drying except maybe write an autobiography that nobody wants to read?

When all efforts were applied to protect a prostitute for plying her trade, why is it that this young lawyer is being made to defend herself, her dignity and integrity? Why is she being thrashed around doing something that is not really a crime and probably a common indiscretion? Where is she going after this episode hits the ceiling fan? Would she lose her good grades and law degree? Would she be allowed to practise now that she is seen as a person of low repute if all the things said are true, yet to be proven. Has she been fixed?

Where are these things coming from? The underage prostitute is bringing down nearly 60 professionals, the sex for contracts another few, this kiss and tell is going to bring down a few more. Soon there will be no more local talents left in Sinkieland and more FTs will be needed to fill up the gaps.

Looks like an exercise to replace the locals if not for the law professor who was a Malaysian PR. But he is a Sinkie by now I think.

Let’s have more sex

Critics of Sinkieland have been proven wrong these few weeks, that this island is a dull and lifeless place, no action, no fun and no play. What appeared in the media is only a scantily peep into the interesting lives of Sinkies, and the truth and the whole truth are much more exciting and pervasive among the supposedly no nonsense priests and monks populace.

And the govt is screaming its head off asking the people to indulge in more sex and apparently in vain. What the govt did wrong was actually in the way it is saying it. Babies! Didn’t the govt know that ‘babies’ is a frightening word like mother in law? The govt is asking for more babies and not more sex. How can there be babies with no sex? Change the lines, and talk about sex and babies will come naturally as a consequence.

While the govt is so obsessed with the utilitarian purpose of having babies, the populace are having fun in a different way, in having sex. But how come no babies? That is an interesting question isn’t it? So much sex but so few babies.

The fault lies in how sex is conducted, in car parks and in Paris and in budget hotels are not too conducive to produce babies. And paid sex is less likely to give the desire results.

There are two more serious issues. The men have a fetish craving for sex with the sweet young things. Anything above the legally permitted age is not desirable. Isn’t this serious? The wives better start thinking. If this is true to the majority, marriage is too late as the spouses are far from the desired age group to have sex… and babies.

Another discouraging fact emerging from all the cases in Havelock Road is that the men not only paid for sweet young things or strayed, their only interest is oral sex, no penetration. And they paid good money just for that kind of unorthodox indulgence. How to make babies when the desire fell into the wrong hole?

Sex education must be failing in schools. They are teaching them the wrong things. Sex for babies is done differently and the natural thing is to aim low and not high to score As.. These guys are doing it all wrong.  Or maybe there was no sex education then. The govt needs to seriously look at the syllabus for sex education and do a revision to teach the real stuff and the right things to do.

And if they want babies, make sure it is all about hetero. This is another new danger that is being encouraged, homo sex. And if this trend bites, the babies aren’t going to come.

Funny, so much sex, so much fun, and so few results, and so few babies. What’s wrong with you guys? Putting the money where the mouth is?

Runway 2020 - Fashion out of this World

This is my Runway 2020 Series with models in fanciful hats, hairdos and dresses. They are rar art pieces created by the Art of RAR Technique. I have a collection of more than 30 pieces of this series conceived and created totally by Mother Nature. It is fashion out of this world. A rare treat of what Mother Nature is able to do in fashion designs.

Syria a dangerous precedent

The bloodshed in Syria and the loss of the lives would escalate to a scale surpassing those in Iraq and Libya. The story is the same. Regime change initiated and supported and armed by foreign powers.

Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi were dead. Now it is the turn of Bashar Al Assad. He is likely to be the next Arab/Middle Eastern leader to be killed by the west in the name of regime change, a people’s uprising. This is a dangerous trend set by the American and western powers, supporting minority dissidents in a country, armed and finance them, even bringing in mercenaries to fight on their side, to over throw a govt.

Every country will have some disgruntled people, people in the opposition, and dissidents. When agitated, promised of power and glory and instant wealth and fame, many would become adventurest and would risk lives and peace to fight and to kill. It is so easy to start an insurgency with enough finance and arms and a super power or many powers backing it.

Syria is a message to all regimes, all govts, in any country that are not seen to tow the line, not in the good books of America and western powers. They will incite an insurgency and turn it into a civil war to bring down established govts and regimes.

Many African, Asian and Southeast Asian countries are easy targets and can be easily manipulated to turn into a war zone. Many of their leaders are tagged as lesser than the expectation of what a leader should be in the western mould. Many are seen as dictatorial, authoritarian, abusive of human rights etc etc, all fitting the recipe for regime change when needed.

More and more countries will be turned upside down, burnt and citizens killed to serve the interest and agenda of America and western powers. Who is next?

China’s new city, Sansha

Tension rises in the South China Sea with China officially announcing its newest city in the Paracel group of islands. It has 1000 inhabitants and only 13 sq km in size. The Vietnamese and Filipinos are protesting wildly. For several centuries, being beaten and impoverished by the western colonial powers and Japan, China was a spent force, to be robbed, discriminated and ridiculed. Its land, islands are free for all to grab and China could do nothing about it.

Today, China has risen from the ashes as one of the two super powers in the world and with economic clout matching those of the US. While it had to take things lying down in the past, it need not do so today. It is about time China takes a firm stand on its territorial sovereignty and reclaims all the land and islands lost during the era of its eclipse. Not doing so would be a sign of weakness and will invite more trouble and counter claims from adventurers and aggressive countries.

Building cities in its own territories and islands is a sign of ownership. Dilly dallying is a sign of weakness, uncertainties and ambiguity. It may even weaken its claims on the islands. China must make its claims in no uncertain terms, tension will arise and clashes will be inevitable but unavoidable. Like it or not, tension and clashes are already on the table and not facing it and standing up to its rights to its own territories will be even worst.

China must face the hostility and the contentious parties squarely and make them know that China is not allowing an inch of its territories and islands to be taken away by wild claims. Enough is enough. There is no turning back for China unless it wants to weaken its own position and encourage more adventurism. China cannot fear to occupy its own territories unless it wants to tell the world that those are not its territories. To do or not to do, tension will rise and must be settled, with force if necessary. The countries making claims on China’s islands will want to resort to whatever means to stake their claims, even inviting the Americans to confront China militarily. The more China wavers, the more likely will it precipitate into open conflict. The only way to avoid open conflict is to make a stand that it would stop any attempt to seize its territories even at the cost of war.

Please tell me what to do with the shit

Last night I went for supper. The buffet spread was so good and I ate and ate and ate. I forgot that being too greedy and eating recklessly would have its consequences. But with so much food on the table and eat as much as you like, how to resist. Eat lah.

This morning worked up big lau sai. Shit every where and everyone complaining of the smell. Now what to do? Can anyone help me to solve this shitty problem?

What? Don’t be greedy, don’t eat too much? Cannot lah. When so much food is laid on the table for grabbing, cannot resist lah.

Inviting and importing new and complex problems

‘The times are changing, the population is changing, the expectations are changing. Singapore’s society is now more diverse and complex now that new citizens from India hail from many regions of the sub-continent,’ Lee Hsien Loong

Hsien Loong spoke to the Indian community on how to integrate the India Indians from northern India into our society. Their presence, and the presence of China Chinese and others, are making our country more diverse and more complex, and definitely with more complex problems. Do we need these problems in the first place? Do we need so many foreigners to raise our economic growth data?

Economic growth, plus inflation, and higher cost of living, congestion and competition for goods and services if not accompanied by real income growth, is making life more difficult and inconvenient, and costly of course, to many Singaporeans. If the income growth does not exceed all the cost of inflation it is as good as downgrading, taking a pay cut.

The housing problem is just a specific issue of what bad policies can lead to. And it is localised, hurting some Sinkies most. The influx of foreigners and high population will impact everyone except for the top end of the population who could pay their way out.

Do we want more congestion, more complex problems, more irritations and tension, higher cost of living, more stress on emotions, on services and infrastructure and systems? Have the people send the message to the govt that they do not want a higher population of foreigners, like the message they sent on high property prices? The full impact of such a policy will not be felt so soon till they multiply and compounded into a problem of multiple proportion. Our roads will not be enough, our housing will not be enough, our supply of energy and water will not be enough, nuclear looks so inviting and necessary, everything will not be enough. We will not only be drinking urine, but shit water as well. That is what a bigger population will bring us, bigger and more complex problems.

The govt is asking the people for the answers. At the bottom, the addiction to population growth for economic growth seems to be the only answer and there is no other solution. Growth by population growth is a self destruct formula whether applied to a single country or to the world as a whole. Rapid growth through population growth is malignant growth, cancerous growth.

Stop the influx of the foreigners and stop the problem from growing. No need to scratch the head to ask for more solutions, how to better integrate them. When they are not here, time and resources can be put to better use, and no unwanted problems. The pace of growth could be slower with comparatively slower inflation. What is needed is real growth through productivity.

The same problem of high growth and quick death is best seen in the banking industry when slower and smaller growth is not enough as every turkey at the top demands to be paid in tens or hundreds of millions. And the only way to feed their insatiable appetite is through gambling and frauds. Sustainable and slower real growth is the only way forward, with lower expectations at the top.

Do not gamble with population growth like the banking industry gambling with derivatives and frauds. As the economy matures, slower and more sustainable growth is only natural and the way to go.

Singapore snippets

Singapore has never been so exciting before until the last couple of months. The media is flooded with all kinds of saucy tabloid quality news that should increase their sales by at least 30%. What you want to read you have it, corruption, sex scandals, priests, the elite, law suits, mental cases, murder, suicides etc etc. The hot issues of population explosion and influx of foreigners and jobless Sinkies who have to keep on down grading through downgrading courses, this is funny really, while foreigners are pouring in with abundance of job offers. The young people are now encouraged to be hawkers instead of lawyers, doctors or ministers.

Ask the taxi drivers, which is the most exciting place in Singapore, MBS or RWS? Wrong, the magistrate courts at Havelock Road.

Which is the most exciting jobs to be in, lawyer or hawker? Wrong, psychiatrist.

Which profession pays the most, lawyer or ministers? Wrong, priesthood.

What is the most sought after mode of transport, MRT or Ferrari? Wrong, Brompton Bike.

Who is suffering from bipolar disorder, a lawyer or psychiatrist? No another lawyer.

Who is more powerful than the court of law, the govt or the law society? No, a psychiatrist. Really? Or is it a lawyer? Is that your final answer?

Who decides whether a person is innocent, the court or the minister? Both wrong, its the believers.

Which is the most exciting and reliable news media, main media or social media? Wrong, Facebook.