Boiling the daft Sinkies

Believe it! Only $99,999. This is the price for a 1,600cc saloon car, inclusive of COE. And Sinkies are rushing to the showrooms because COE price is cheap, down $2000 from $75,000 to $73,000.

They cannot remember or did not know that such a car would likely cost not more than $30,000 in many countries or the cost is only $20k to bring in. Cheap, cheap, cheap because yesterday was priced at $100k.

The same mentality is the thinking about housing prices. Cheap, cheap, cheap cause it is 1% down.

Don't forget CPF withdrawal age and minimum sum.

PR complained about Sinkies.

Below is a post in TRE of a PR complaining about Sinkies being anti foreigners. And below this there is a complaint by a Sinkie about foreign banks discriminating against Sinkies on employment opportunities in Citibank, also posted in TRE.

“A Singapore Permanent Resident (PR) from Malaysia, Albert Tye has written to the Straits Times forum imploring Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong to crack down on critics of the government’s ‘rational’ immigration policy.

Mr Tye started by blasting netizens for attacking immigrants online:

The behaviour of some netizens not only reflect poorly on Singaporeans, their postings are also extremely offensive. Netizens have been getting away – and going overboard – with their anti-new immigrant postings with impunity; particularly in attacks against mainland Chinese.”

This is the second posting by a Leroy Tan to Tan Chuan Jin.

‘Dear Sir, It has come to my attention that Citibank IT employs less than 15% Singaporeans. The rest are all foreigners.

One may argue that we don’t have enough manpower to support their operations but why are the foreigners from one specific country?

Are the rest of the Asian countries having the same problem as well?

In addition, Citibank IT only gets their staff from the following hr vendors and none of them are local.

1. Infosys

2. Nucleus

3. IFlex

4. Polaris

And from what I gathered, they ain’t cheap. Their salary ranges between $4000-$6000. I just have 1 question, why the discrimination?’

The two posts speak badly of Sinkies as a people, as citizens of a country when they are treated as shit by foreigners. The PR has the audacity to call on the PM to what, to ‘crack down’ on Sinkie critics who are against the rational immigration policy. To many Sinkies it is irrational policy and badly managed and that is why there are so much pains and complaints. The fact that a PR thinks it is okay to dismiss Sinkies in Sinkieland speaks a lot about the respect they had for Sinkies. Basically Sinkies are just shit in their eyes.

And if the complaint about discrimination in Citibank is true, then Sinkies are even shittier when they are discriminated by a foreign bank in their home country that gave the bank a licence to operate. Now the issue is whether there is discrimination and whether it can be proven. I hope it cannot be proven and everything is proper. If it is proven to be so, I dunno where to hide my face as a Sinkie.

What do you think?

Singapore model of multi racial society not perfect

Many countries today are multi racial in composition, from the US in the west to the Philippines in the east, from China in the north to Australia in the South. The racial mix differs from country to country with some with the majority veering towards near absolute but not many are about evenly split. The latter is likely to see unending bickering for power, like a two party system.

There are absolute majority countries with the majority taking advantage of the minorities and discriminating against them in a whole range of social, economic and political matters. There are also instances of a minority discriminating against the majority when they own the gun, like in South Africa during days of apartheid and in the Middle East.

In general, it is always the majority taking advantage of the minorities and forcing their wills on them. Singapore has an absolute Chinese majority and it is one of the exception where discrimination against the minorities is the least and often have to bend backwards to accommodate the interests of the minorities. The minorities are still unhappy for some of the discrimination they are experiencing, though not life threatening or overt oppression. It is still far from being ideal, far from being good, but still one of the best in the world as far as ethnic relations and living together as a country of many races. There are still pockets of hardcore individuals that would be very racial in their thinking and behavior, but not as a group behavior.

Would Singapore be better off with a more even distribution in its racial composition? Or would it be better if there is an absolute Malay majority in power, or an absolute Indian majority in power? Theoretically every group will think it will be better if their racial group is in power and they would or could be more generous, merciful and magnanimous to the minorities. Would that be the natural outcome? What do you think?

A little trivial

The ongoing court cases about adults visiting underage prostitutes have thrown out many lessons and the do’s and don’ts for paid lust. The first and most important thing to take note is to ask the prostitute for her age to determine if she is underage, under 18. This seems to be the biggest mistake of the customers who were being prosecuted in court and sentenced to imprisonment. In their hurry to satisfy their animal lust they forgot to ask her age. Maybe their papa or mama did not teach them this. Maybe the school system also failed to teach them this street smart SOP. So you guys wanting to be naughty, this is lesson number one.

There are other questions to be asked but have not surfaced yet. One question is to determine the employment status of the prostitute. Is she here on a student pass or employment pass? I think if she is a student, then she should not be in business. It is a violation of the Immigration law and doing business with her could be an offence.

Another question is her legal status. Is she a legal or illegal immigrant. Obviously an illegal immigrant should not be here. Customers must ask or could be found to be playing with illegal immigrants and condoning their illegal stay.

So remember, ask their age, employment and legal status. Of course must also ask if they are AIDS free or disease free. Compile a checklist to be safe and don’t gabra when the light dims. Caveat emptor.

Sayang sayang

Alex Tan, a Reform Party candidate who stood in the GE against Hsien Loong is now being investigated for harassment against SBS Transit.

Here is a short clip from a post in TRE, ‘One of the founding editors of The Real Singapore (TRS) is being investigated by the police for “intentional haressment”, following a complaint by SBS Transit (SBS).

Alex Tan ZhiXiang was summoned by Tanglin Police Division after a Magistrate Complaint was lodged against him, for using multiple instances of F* word in an open letter addressed to SBS, commenting on the overcrowding and infrequent bus services.’

I read Alex’s letter which was posted in TRE by another blogger and indeed he spiced up his letter to SBS with a lot of ‘fuck’ words. I am now going to be more careful with using this word in case I offended any bloggers here. It is natural for some to have thinner skin or more sensitive skin. For those who are offended whenever the ‘fuck’ word is used here, let me sayang sayang you a bit to make you feel better.

And for those who are writing complaint letters to corporations, please be mindful that you can be investigated for intentional harassment. So, please hor, no say I never warn you or you did not know, it is quite dangerous and no one would sayang sayang you hor. Using ‘fuck’ word is a serious thing and can be hauled to court hor. This is Sinkapore where we are squeaky clean and a word like this is not for normal use by the inhabitants. They will be very offended by it and can report you to the police and sue you also.

A kindly word of advice to foreigners to read this carefully and don’t come here and fuck around ok and think it is ok. This is my contribution to integrating foreigners to our squeaky clean culture.

Heart very big 心很大

The big conversation in everyone’s lip now is about the heart, about how big is the heart, not about not having a heart. It is true that everyone has a heart. Believe me, it is true. And this heart grows bigger and bigger as one grows from a baby to an adult, and then it gradually stops growing. Our body can only accommodate a heart of a certain size. Normally the bigger the body the bigger the heart.

In a figurative sense, the heart is used to describe the desire, ambition and magnanimity of a person. When one is described to have a big heart, it is often a good thing. In another sense it can also connotes a negative feeling. A generous man has a big heart to forgive and forget, not a narrow heart. But a man with a big heart can be used to describe a very ambitious or greedy man, who covets for more and more.

The heart grows bigger and bigger, for instance, describe someone who was initially content to earn a 4 figure income, than 5 figure and then 6 figure income. The heart is growing bigger. It can also describe a person who thinks he can do three jobs, 5 jobs, or ten jobs at the same time, something like wearing more and more hats. Or the head is very big. There is a subtle difference between head very big and a big heart when doing more jobs is concerned. Big head is more like thinking too highly of oneself, that one can do a lot of things, very able. Big heart is like being too greedy, just want to have more jobs in the pocket with no regards to one’s ability, a bit like wild heart, 野心. And this kind of hearts can grow to enormous size, and can keeping growing non stop.

So, when we talk about big hearts, we need to know what we are talking about. When we praise people with big heart, it could mean a generous person or a greedy and ambitious person. And this kind of heart is not the same as the physical heart as every big or broad guy will have a big heart. And don’t get distracted by talking about the colour of the heart. Presumably all the hearts are red in colour and in the right place.

Six proposals to turn Sinkies into baby making machines

4 women from the PAP Women’s Wing, including MPs Jessica Tan and Intan Azura Mokhtar, have came out with 6 recommendations to make Singaporeans to produce more babies. And the recommendations are sensible.

Are they smarter than those that are paid millions to come up with such good proposals? Or when can’t those who are paid in the millions come out with such good proposals? The talents in the Women’s Wing cannot be more talented than the million dollar talents right? If they are, then the Women’s Wing talents should be paid the million dollars instead.

And why does it take so long for a group of women to come out with such good ideas? I think the answer to this is that someone came out to ask for ideas, so ideas are coming out now. Does it also mean that if no someone asked for ideas, then no ideas will be forthcoming?

Maybe the million dollar talents are working on some more brilliant ideas that they have not discovered in the past. Just hope they do not throw away the good ideas from the Women’s Wing but offer nothing better in return.

Japan, US conduct island defense drill near Diaoyu Islands

Globaltimes.cn | 2012-8-21 15:43:00

US Moves in E. Aisa

1.Japan, US conduct joint drills near Diaoyu Islands
Japan and the US have decided to intensify military and defense cooperation at a very sensitive time for the region. The decision was first reported on in the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun. The news comes as relations between China and Japan have been severely strained due to the territory dispute over Diaoyu Islands.

2.S. Korea, US launch joint military drill
South Korean and US militaries have begun an annual joint exercise to test defenses against potential security threats.

3. Private deals between US, Japan concerning Diaoyu Islands "invalid": Chinese FM
According to Japan's Kyodo News Agency, a senior US State Department official said on July 9 that the Diaoyu Islands (referred to as the Senkaku Islands in Japan) fall within the scope of Article 5 of the US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, as the Senkaku Islands have been under the administrative control of the government of Japan since they were returned as part of the reversion of Okinawa in 1972.

4. US-Japanese strategies put region at risk
At the end of April, the US and Japan reached a new agreement on the joint use of the US military bases in the Pacific region. According to media reports, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces are expected to station forces alongside US troops in the Philippines. Once Manila approves, Japan, the US and the Philippines will conduct specific military training together in Philippine bases.

5. Japan’s tough Diaoyu position aimed at US
In December 2011, Japan and the US jointly held a military drill. Such military drills have been practiced for more than two decades, but this time the scale was unprecedented.

The reason was exactly the incident that happened in September. Japan and the US assumed that the waters near the Diaoyu Islands might be threatened by Chinese military forces, although in ordinary people's eyes a fishing boat barely represents a nation.

Inventing the Chinese Threat

Inventing the Chinese Threat

John Glaser,  August 17, 2012



                                    “Since the disappearance of the
Soviet Union,” writes James Dobbins at RAND Corp., “China has become
America’s default adversary, the power against which the United States
measures itself militarily, at least when there is no more proximate
enemy in sight.”

I know what you’re thinking: What has China ever done to us? What
villainous offense have they committed to our well-being or our
interests? It can’t possibly be the case that China is our “default
adversary” just because the Soviet Union is gone, can it?



Well, yes it can. As Colin Powell, former Secretary of State and
retired four-star general, said about the fall of the Soviet Union,
Washington was remorseful that we “lost our best enemy.” The system –
the “whole structure,” Powell explained, “depended on there being a
Soviet Union that might attack us.” He said Mikhail Gorbachev sat
across the table from him at the time and said apologetically “Ah,
General, I’m sorry, you’ll have to find a new enemy.”

When people in Washington and their surrogates in the mass media
punditry crow about our other trumped up threat, they at least have a
laundry list of alleged transgressions. You know the list: they
support terrorism, they want to wipe Israel off the map, they’re
secretly building nuclear weapons, they killed US soldiers invading
and occupying neighboring Iraq, etc. With China, there is no such
list. China’s mere existence as anything other than a vassal state is
the major transgression. As James Holmes has written in the National
Interest, China “presents the sternest ‘anti-access’ challenge of any
prospective antagonist.” In other words, they resist US
interventionism and military presence. China is gaining power and
influence, which ought to be solely American prerogatives, as far as
Washington is concerned.

This is the reasoning behind President Obama’s strategic shift into
Asia-Pacific, announced by the administration last year. This
so-called ‘Asia pivot’ is an aggressive policy that involves surging
American military presence throughout the region – in the Philippines,
Japan, Australia, Guam, South Korea, Singapore, etc. – and backing
basically all of China’s rivals.

More than that, the Pentagon is drawing up new plans to prepare for an
air and sea war in Asia. “As part of the Air-Sea Battle concept,”
reports Military.com, the US is refurbishing old WWII bases, looking
“to disperse its air forces stationed at its handful of major bases in
the western Pacific in the event of a major conflict with China.”

Source: BBC


The idea is to have enough US bases peppered throughout the region so
that China would be too surrounded to safely attack. “Doing so would
make it more difficult for China to wipe out entire squadrons sitting
on the ground with surprise attacks from its long range ballistic
missiles.”

Chinese officials have not appreciated this unprovoked bellicosity. In
May the Chinese Defense Ministry accused the Pentagon of hyping a
Chinese military threat out of thin air. Others have said these
Pentagon moves could start an arms race. “If the U.S. military
develops Air-Sea Battle to deal with the [People’s Liberation Army],
the PLA will be forced to develop anti-Air-Sea Battle,” one officer,
Col. Gaoyue Fan, said last year in a debate sponsored by the Center
for Strategic and International Studies.
“Some Asia analysts worry that conventional strikes aimed at China
could spark a nuclear war,” according to the Washington Post. Other
“critics see a dangerous tendency toward alarmism that is exaggerating
the China threat to drive up defense spending.”

“While China’s overall military capabilities will not equal those of
the United States anytime soon,” Dobbins puzzlingly warns, “it will
more quickly achieve local superiority in its immediate neighborhood,
first in and around Taiwan and then at somewhat greater distances.”

To continue: Take your chance and click link if you have the you know
what's to do so .

http://antiwar.com/blog/2012/08/17/inventing-the-chinese-threat/

Installing a soul into a soulless nation

Talking about soul searching, a Sinkie soul? Do we have a soul in the first place when everything is about money and profitability? Sinkies will sell father and mother and country just for money, or when they think it is a profitable thing to do.

Some were reminding the Sinkies about our immigrant past, about how our forebears came to this little island to make a home and a country. Reflecting and remembering the past, knowing the history, are good. At least they tell you where you came from, where it started and how it started. Knowing history is one thing, learning from the valuable lessons of history is another. And the dangerous part is learning the wrong thing from history is unforgiveable.

When the wise men reminded the Sinkies of their immigrant roots, they are telling the conventional wisdom of welcoming the new immigrants like welcoming their forebears, to justify the influx of immigrants. What they have forgotten were the conditions when our forebears arrived and how our forebears fought to own this piece of rock that we now call home, our country. Maybe there was too little struggle, too little bloodshed, that there was not enough pain to treasure the ownership of this piece of rock. It was given on a silver platter.

But don’t be deceived by the ease of independence and becoming owners and masters of our own land. It could turn the other way and taken away from us. And our forebears could have been abandoned or cast into the sea as refugees. Do not take for granted our independence and ownership of this island.

And don’t be silly to think that we own a continent to be shared with everyone and anyone. We don’t have enough to round. We cannot accommodate the world and neither would the world want to accommodate us. We can be generous to being foolish. To give away something so precious and dear to us and ended being flotsams one day when we are not careful and be cast away, and become refugees with no homes. No country will open their legs willingly to be screwed by foreigners. Try applying to Timbuktu and see if you are welcomed?

A people without a soul would not appreciate what is the meaning of a country, and being citizens of a country. We sell everything for quick profits. We give our citizenships freely thinking that it is good, in the short term, without looking further than the tip of our nose. There is a time to be selective, to be selfish, to protect ourself, our own people, instead of prostituting ourselves thinking that that is the only way of survival. We are not a continent like America or Australia that we can accommodate everyone when the reality is that not many people would want to share their home and land and prosperity with us.

Now, what soul are we talking about? A generous soul of sharing everything we have with everyone? Big hearts huh? Can we afford to do that? Many cannot afford to own cars, no space to build bicycle lanes, not enough land to build flats that don’t cost a hand or a leg. Not enough water, energy, no land for farming and producing food. And we want more and more people to share and squeeze with us in this piece of rock.

A major world crisis in energy, in food, drought or flood, recession etc will plunge us into the abyss in no time if we have too big a population to feed. We are not self sufficient in anything. Our money will not be much use in a real crisis when money becomes just a piece of paper.

Put up Sentosa for sale. After all with 2m foreigners in a 5.4m population here, it is as good as they buying up 2/5 of the island, in a way. Easy come easy go. We got this island easy and can give it away easy as well.

One good reason to welcome more foreigners

As a small country, we need to trade with everyone to survive. We need free trade and open skies to trade freely, to move freely. It is a quid pro quo thing. We let your goods in, you let our goods in, no taxes.

This same principle is applicable to recognition of university degrees. You recognize our degrees we recognize yours. And if we let your people come here freely, work here freely, live here freely, the same must be reciprocated.

Now Sinkies, please understand this logic. Our island is so small, so cram. Would it not be nice to be able to live in big countries with a lot of land? Let the people of the world come here freely and we move to their countries freely as well. They can come and buy and live in our HDB flats and we be allowed to move to their countries, buy land and build landed properties. Those bigger countries would have no problem or feel insecure to welcome us. Would this be good? Would it be good to live in big countries where properties are cheap, cars are cheap and lifestyle slow and easy?

And when we recognize their degrees, their doctors and lawyers and engineers can practice here, so can our professionals practice in their countries. Imagine Sinkies can go anywhere and work and practice anywhere. Imagine we are welcome everywhere. And we can rent out our HDB flats, collect the rentals, and live in landed properties in other countries. And those from other countries come and live in our small little flats, pay us a lot of money to live in their countries. That would be really nice. The world is our oyster!

Imagine all the people in the world, living in peace and harmony. But I am just a dreamer, and I am not the only one.

The days of the Miserables…lawyers

Who do you think lawyers? Are we seeing the days of the miserable lawyers and the legal profession? Or things will go on as normal? The respect and high regards for the legal profession and the learned counsels, will it be tainted or will it continue to glow and shine?

I think it all depends on the outcome of the EGM and whether the legal eagles find it important enough to even attend this EGM. Would the 50 calling for the EGM be the voices in the wilderness and abandon by their colleagues in the profession? Will they be the only 50 members present?

Alienation of the leadership

There was a time when aspiring leaders will shout, follow me, and jump into the deep end of any crisis to face the bullets first. Leadership is by leading, by setting examples, by telling and doing what leaders expect the followers to do. When leaders lead by examples, the followers will follow all the way. When leaders say charge, and they stand behind to watch, who is going to charge, who is going to be the idiot to be shot first? Only the soldiers can do that.

When leaders eat rice, the men eat rice. When the men eat porridge or gruel, the leaders too did the same. That is what leadership is all about, be with the people, share wealth and toil, share joy and woes. The men will not mind if the leaders have rice and they have porridge or gruel. It would be something else when the leaders have meat and fish and the men have only plain gruel. Got it?

When leaders demand to be paid in the millions and told the people it is alright to live with $1k pm. When leaders demand to live in 20k sq ft properties and build smaller and smaller flats for the people, and tell the people to live within their means, I think you got a problem.

When leaders declare that wide income gap is normal and the wider the gap the more normal it is, you got a bigger problem. There is a big gap, a credibility gap. The daft followers will continue to follow blindly. They are not daft for no reason. But not many are daft, and not many will remain daft all the time.

Serve NS to protect what? To protect the huge properties and wealth of leaders, or their little shoe box flats? Heard or pragmatism? Or nothing of their own to protect since they don’t even own a little flat to cover their heads? Only daft Sinkies will protect other people’s wealth and well being when their well beings don’t mean anything to those they are protecting. Does this make sense or so difficult to understand? What is an aspiration? A belief that is good to believe in only, a make belief.

Is there a connect, or a credibility gap between the leaders and the led? Do the leaders lead by setting good examples that the people will die for, or to die for an aspiration? Is everyone is part of a bigger whole, everyone feels that they are part of a bigger entity called nation and country?

Maybe the people don’t mind living within their means and dying for their great leaders bathing in wealth and glory. After all they have been told to know and accept their lesser stations in life.

Racism in Singapore

Recently the outcry against racism is getting louder. Many, even a minister, are raising issues of racism openly. Yes, there are incidents of racism in this island and there is nothing to hide, or better to sweep them under the carpet. The case of this elderly man berating his Indian neighbour for unpleasant smell, unhygienic lifestyle, and turning his flat into a squalor, has been given special prominence by the minister in his Facebook posting. What is the intent of the minister, to prove that there is racism, to use this as an issue in the national dialogue or to say that racism exists in little pockets in the society?

Short of saying that this elderly man’s IQ or EQ is suspect, that he did not find anything wrong complaining to Minister Shanmugam who is obviously an Indian, I just dunno what to say. With such a strange behavior from an elderly man, it is equally strange to trump this as a good example of racism. And the case only helps to confirm the mindset of those who see racism as a big issue in this island. And some took the opportunity to beat drums and gongs to the screams of, hear, hear, there is racism in Sinkieland.

And the drum and gong beaters are raising their pitch higher, which is very unfortunate. No one in his right mind will deny that there is racism here and everywhere in the world. It is a matter of degree and seriousness. No one will accept the racial slurs by the elderly man even he if he is not the average Sinkie man one encounters in the island and thus not excusable.

The point is this, is racism really a big issue in the island? Since 1969, has there been any racially incited conflict or killings, of people being attacked physically or verbally abused in public because of race? There were a handful of racist postings in the blogs by some hot young men and they were immediately taken to task by the police. And these were about the most serious incidents of racial discrimination one could find. It is quite embarrassing really.

What more can you ask for? For those who believe that this island is a racist place populated by a racist majority victimizing the minorities, why not choose a country that has a more pleasant environment where different races live in better harmony than in this little island? No we are not perfect, but trying to.

Yes, I am offended as a Sinkie. I seeing more accusation and agitation of racism in this country I called home. And no, I am not saying that there is no racism, but when they manifest, they are so mild and so few in between to warrant the sounding of a tsunami coming. There are bound to be a few bad hats in all communities. But the bad hats here don’t beat up people or shoot people with guns. This is Singapore, a multi culture and racial city state with no equals in the world as far as race relations is concerned.

Sinkies should feel offended when people keep harping about racism in the city and tell the racist off. Only racists go around seeing everything racist using their racist lens.

Attack the complainant and miss the complaint

The elderly gentleman was complaining about his neighbour because he was Indian. Any insinuation? No, this elderly gentleman must be a racist at heart. Right or wrong?

By the way, what was he complaining about? Bad smell, dirty habits, and what else? Now that the focus is on this elderly man, what happen to his complaints? Were his complaints valid and need to be addressed? HDB flats are homes to the ordinary Sinkies, not a farm or pig sty for pigs. The residents deserved to have a clean and healthy environment, no dirty and smelly neighbours and neighbours clogging up the walkways or turning their flats into health or fire hazards. No IMH patients running around abusing or threatening the neighbours with physical harm.

While the complainant now has been turned into a villain, a racist, it could be easier to accept his complaints as valid if he is not so dense to keep repeating the fact that the neighbour was from a different race but just about the problems. Then his complaints may be accepted and dealt with. In this case everyone forgot about the reasons for the complaints.

A similar case was Sylvia Lim raising the disquiet in Woffle’s case in Parliament. She was questioned and intimidated as if she was the wrongdoer. Is this the proper way to deal with a complainant, a messenger or a whistle blower? It is like killing the messenger of bad news to avoid hearing more bad news. Divert the attention from the issue and make the complainant the problem.

Of Hope, Heart and Home

Someone asked me why I am still subscribing the ST, on weekends only, when many refused to touch it for their many reasons. The answer is simple. You need to know what it is, what it is printing and what it is not printing. You must know the subject or you can’t make a fair comment or judgement of it. Likewise many have openly declared that they would shun Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally Speech. I did not, or else I would not know what I am writing about the speech.

It is not very normal to see someone speak in three languages at the same time and on a very serious subject like the nation’s future. Other than his command of the languages, his elephant memory is abnormal, to be able to speak through a couple of hours without making a glitch. It was scripted and rehearsed many times, true, but even a news reader would make mistakes here and there for such a long script.

Many of the misgivings and gripes of the people were tackled satisfactorily with many yeses instead of the usual no’s in the past. Many were happy that the govt is listening to their grouses and willing to act on them positively. What was not so good is that it was kind of reactionary. The govt was simply reacting to the cries and the problems raised by the people. And many of these problems needed not happen if govt policies were implemented with a heart. Yes, the heart was missing or misplaced for many years.

Hsien Loong’s main themes were the heart, hope and home. When the heart was not there, hope was dashed, and home became a big burden and a troublesome factor in their lives. Many pains were inflicted on the people because of the missing heart. Policies were shafted down the people’s throat in a very arrogant way, dismissing the people as non entities. This is how I am going to do it. Like it or not, the people just have to live with it.

What is really needed, instead of reactionary piece meal solutions, is to flush the slimy little heart, if it is still there, with sulphuric acid to get rid of the black stains of the past, to start with a new heart. Instal a new set of heartware into the system and hope and home will fall into place.

The old mindset of dictating to the people, not giving the people any choice, or real choices, must stop. Take the CPF scheme. Many would continue to keep their money in the CPF after retirement. Many would want to buy some medical or annuity insurance for their own good. There is no need for compulsion when a scheme is really good for the people. Some will get their money out, some more, some less. But with a good scheme in place, with better terms, interest rates, the people will make choices that are to their advantage. There is no need to compel the people by compulsory schemes. Give the people the choice, let the people decide what is good for them.

The missing heart is most evident in housing policies. All the blocks, deciding who can buy or cannot buy, what they can buy and cannot buy, are simply arrogant and dismissive. Get back to the basics of public housing, build homes for the people. The affordability issue should be more about people wanting to buy beyond their means, wanting to commit to bigger units when they could not afford so. And not forcing people to buy bigger units, or into the private sector, deciding their affordability and how much they must spend, with no regards to their commitments, retirement plans and prudence.

The same applies to mean testing in hospitals. The hospitals must meet the needs of the people. And if more people wanting to opt for lower quality services, provide them. Why compel people to spend more and consume higher quality services when they don’t need and don’t want? Silly isn’t. And the mean testing must go. It only reflects how mean policymakers are.

As for hope, education is where the govt is pointing. We need to provide the places for our children in the universities. Lawrence Wong’s recommendation to offer more places for marketable degrees is sound. Take care of our children instead of other nation’s children. Forget about gaming those impractical and silly ranking systems. A good university is in its products, the graduates. Not the number of foreigners.

And the reality is that our education system is a flop from schools to universities. The fact, we cannot produce good quality grads to fill up many top positions and have to rely on third world grads, from poorly equipped schools and universities, to fill up these top positions. I said our schools failed despite the straight As because these straight As, when sent overseas and returned, were also found wanting. So what is the craze about gaming to score high in those silly rankings? Make sure that our grads are in demand and good enough for all the top positions in the country. If they are not, then it says the system is not good enough. Hope is missing or misplaced when our world class universities could not train our grads to be world class. When foreigners are sought after and walked in to replace our locals in good jobs.

Hope and Home will follow when the heart is in the right place. It is frightening when sometimes one wonders if there is even a heart.

Lotus pond - a piece of rar art

This is an abstract piece that is done quite differently to impress by its colour and compositon.

Dedicated To All those Born in 1940's, 50's , 60's

I received the below article from a friend. The origin is likely from Malaysia but the experience and how we grew up were very similar. I took liberties to change a few words here and there to localise it into our context with some Sinkie names added. It wasn't too long ago when we were all like dat.

Dedicated To All those Born in 1940's, 50's , 60's

Without any maids, our mothers cooked, cleaned and took care of the whole family. They still had time to chat with neighbours. They were called ‘housewives’.

Everyone had candy floss, fizzy drinks and shaved ice with syrups. Diabete was rare and aspirin/panadol cured all illness.

We rode adult bicycles to school, straddling one leg to the other side. Sitting on the seat would mean unable to reach the pedals. Hercules and Raleigh were the top brands. The richer ones had their own mini-bikes. Ironically, we all had problems with our brakes and loosen chains, and after running into the bushes a few times, we learned how to solve the problem.

Prefects were a fearful lot ...more fearful than the teachers. Detention class was like going to prison for a day. We had "public caning" in schools.

NO ONE ever won the big prizes on "Tikam". It was a scam but it did not stop us coming back for more.

Motorbikes were ridden without helmets. It was rare to ride a private taxi. Taking a bus was luxury - we either cycled or walked everywhere.

We drank water from the tap or any source that looked clean, NOT from bottles. Our tummies were coated with steel.

We spent hours in the fields under the sun, playing football, hantam bola, or flying kites, without worrying about UV rays. It did not affect us. Our skins were tougher than cow hides.

We roamed free catching spiders and did not worry about Aedes mosquitoes. We kept our spiders in match boxes and ready for a fight anytime.

With a mere 5 pebbles, girls played endless games and with an aged tennis ball, boys ran like crazy for hours.

When it rained, we swam the drains & canals to catch rainbow fish, none of us were dissolved in rain.

We shared one bottle of soft drink with friends, NO ONE actually worried about catching anything.

We ate salty, sweet & oily foods, bread had real butter and sometimes condensed milk. We enjoyed very sweet coffee, tea, and "ice kacang" but we were not obese because....... WE WERE OUT PLAYING ALL THE TIME!!

We left home in the morning and played all day till hunger drove us back home. When needed, our parents knew how to find us. NO ONE actually watched over us and WE WERE ALWAYS SAFE.

WE DID NOT HAVE HANDPHONES BUGGING US. Very few had phones at home. We rode bikes or walked over to a friend's house and just yelled for them!

We did not have Playstations, X-boxes, Nintendo's, multiple channels on cable TV, DVD movies, no surround sound, no phones, no personal computers, no Internet. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! Our TV was black and white.

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and we still continued the stunts.

We did not have birthday parties till we were 21, which was when we started to take notice of girls.

We had not heard of the word "Bumiputra". We only knew our friends by names. Their parents were Pak Cik and Mak Cik or Uncle and Aunty.(This para is the tell tale sign of the origin of this article).

In Badminton, we did not change the shuttle as long as it was in flight. Regardless of how many feathers were left in the shuttle, our game continued... but still Wong Peng Soon made us proud in badminton.

Match-boxes were always "chilly" or "king kong" brand...to own a box of matches from a hotel was something great.

Regardless of whether we could afford one, we always knew Maths tuition was $10.00 a month.

All parties were held in the homes, the kitchens and the corridors were the extensions.

Morris Minor and Volkswagen beetle were on our roads...driven alongside Kingswood, Vauxhall, Opel and Chrysler. Executives of companies drove Peugeot and Volvo. Japanese cars were considered "inferior". Some tried rubbing the paint work to prove if they were made from drink cans.
There were no traffic lights, only roundabouts.

The whole kampongs came together during kenduris and all took turns to "kacau dodol". Chinese, Indians and Malays were all part of kenduris and all knew how to speak Malay.

Our favourite local performer was Rose Chan and the Beatles were the most popular band. John Wayne's westerns on Sunday, screening in open fields were 10c cent per show.

Malay weddings had joget sessions at night, it was the only time to ask the Malay ladies for a dance.

Ketupat were NEVER plastic wrapped.
Football was played barefooted in thorn-filled "padangs", rain or shine... but still Quah Kim Song, Dollah Kassim and Rajagopal made us proud. Some may remember Wilfred Skinner and Twinkle Toe Tan Boon Leong I think, and there was Uncle Choo. We actually beat Malaya/Malaysia in football.


Susu lembu was delivered to our house by our big, friendly and strong "Bayi" on his bicycle. All "jagas" were "Bayi" and no place got robbed.
"Laksa" and "Putu Mayam" man came peddling. "Kacang Puteh" man walked balancing on his head top, 6 compartments of different type of murukus.
We played tops, made our own kites & had kite fighting with glass glued threads, and made wooden guns & used buah cherry for bullets.

Kang Kong was free…easily harvested by the riverside. "Kembong" was 30 cents a "kati" and nobody wanted "ikan pari".

When the Circus came to town, everybody went to see it. It was the best LIVE show I ever saw.

Usually we did not have to BUY fruits. They were self planted or given by neighbours or friends, or plucked from the neighbour’s when they were not looking.


The idea of parents bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. Our parents actually sided with the law and brought the child to be caned in schools! Nobody knew about child psychology !

Yet this generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 40 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned ......HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids before the government 'regulated' our lives for good !!

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

The morning dawns darkness

Work up this morning to be greeted by a bright new day. Sat down for a cuppa of kopi and breakfast to prepare for a quiet and blissful weekend. Flipped the ST and suddenly darkness descended all around me.

Ravi was told to see a psychiatrist by the Law Society or to face losing his license to practise as a lawyer. And Ravi’s consultation with his own psychiatrist, a prominent practitioner, was somehow not enough. How many psychiatrists must Ravi see before enough is enough or before the Law Society deems he is fit to practise law?

Has Ravi misbehaved in courts, incoherent and acted in a way detrimental to his clients or embarrassing to the courts, to the legal profession? Or has Ravi done anything to harm anyone? Has Ravi’s clients been complaining about his behaviour and incompetence?

He has been in and out of courts and no judges have so far questioned his ability to handle his cases. Why is Ravi seen as incompetent and could face losing his licence to practise?

The darkness is overwhelming and suffocating.

Our roads are dangerous for cyclists

Are our roads dangerous? Shanmugam said, and I quote from the Today paper, ‘I have been noticing that there is increased amount of unsafe driving on our roads…I wonder if it is the case that we are simply noticing this more, or if indeed our driving habits have become worse. And Today had a table showing that the number of cyclists and pillion riders who died or were injured in accidents were 589 for 2009, 573 for 2010 and 500 for 2011. The number for Jan-Jun 2012 is 190 and simple projection will see this number to be about 190 plus or minus a bit in the next 6 months, or about 380 to 400 for the year. 

Ahem, I must say that based on these numbers, the number of incidents is getting lesser, not increased.

Nonetheless, the number of death is still too high for a casual recreational activity with one or two death daily. It is the most dangerous sports in terms of number of casualties. It should be discouraged or even banned. The number of death is unnecessary and not worth the risk.

Many cyclists refuse to admit this fact that our roads are just too dangerous for cyclists. They are not only narrow, other than the highways, the drivers, the big buses and lorries, are often driven by speed demons. Many of these heavy vehicles are driven by the lowly educated, the foreigners with their third world mentality and habits, and pose just too high a risk for our cyclists.

To add to the problem, some cyclists think that drivers are as well mannered and safety conscious as them, and would drive with care. To further add to the deadly delusion, some of the cyclists thought number is safety and would cycle abreast in twos and threes or more when in a big group, ignoring the right of motorists. They are simply inviting for trouble. A little mistake by the drivers, intentional, accidental or trying to frighten the cyclists to cycle single file would send them flying to heaven.

At this point in time, our road infrastructure is just not suitable for cyclists, not even single file. Best to just keep to the parks, connectors and housing estates. Venture to the main roads at your own risk. The hobby or sports, the attractive sports attire and gadgets to don on, are not worth the risk of losing arms and legs and lives. Don’t be silly and don’t be stubborn. Our roads are not meant for cycling.