PAP in an awkward position

It is not what you think. It is not a 69 or 66 or a 99. It is neither about Michael Palmer. The PAP has always been on the right side of things, or on top of things. This time it is like the gun is pointing at the wrong direction, at the PAP. The AIM thing is looking very awkward for the PAP.

This time the Town Council or the Town Council Chairman, or the directors of AIM are all synonymous with the PAP. They are the PAP. Now there is a certain act that the legal counsels will say that there is a prima facie case to answer. All the facts are on the table, or almost all. And the people are asking for more. There are many questions being asked and the answers are still yet to come forward. Whatever answers that have been given were not acceptable, not good enough.

Soon the people are going to ask the PAP to come clean, to be transparent, to tell all there is to tell. Now this is familiar ground, not aiming at the opponents but at PAP. All the guns are trained, big and small, but without the firepower of a coordinated PAP machinery, ministers, MPs and the IBs and more. But in terms of breath and depth, it is far more reaching. It is the people that are taking the PAP to task.

The PAP is now in the dock. Everyone is asking questions. The people want the truth and nothing else will do. The people are making very uncomfortable but reasonable demands on the PAP to come clean and tell all.

Would there be answers? Or would the questions, like the questions on the construction cost of a HDB flat, or the money in the SWFs, be left unanswered? The people are standing on high moral grounds and wanting answers from the PAP. The PAP is in defense, in damage control mode. The people are setting the agenda and the mood of questioning. It is awkward, very awkward. The Michael Palmer saga was awkward until some went into hiding. This one is extremely unsettling.

Our sacred Constitution

I read some articles that we don’t really have a Constitution though we have one. The rationale is that when a constitution can be changed at the whims and fancy of law makers, it is no longer a constitution. There is some merits to this kind of explanation. Constitution is the highest document and must be highly respected and guarded, protected and not to be trivialized. Anyone thinking of changing any part of the Constitution must give a damn solid reason to do so, and the citizens must also agree to the change.

With the influx of foreigners into this little piece of rock, with the original citizens being diluted and some may even disappear or become a rarity, some of the fundamental legislation may be subject to attack by the newcomers who are growing and will become a substantive force to reckon with.

One of the main pillars of our country is the four official languages that are sanctioned in the Constitution. Correct me if I am wrong. With foreigners becoming more in numbers to our very own minorities, it is only a matter of time before some will insist that their language be made an official language in addition to the four existing language. Some may even suggest the removal of lesser used language to be removed. Possible?

Let’s hope there will not be such a day when our Constitution comes under such attacks. This part of our Constitution is sacred and no new citizens should even think of amending the Constitution to adopt their new languages or whatever. The new citizens are here to adapt to our way of life, and our Constitution, no the other way round. They are here because our way of life and our Constitution are better than those they left behind. It cannot be the other way, that they came from a far worst place, a way of life that they seek to runaway from, to want to change our way of life, and our Constitution to be like them. It sounds ridiculous, but it will happen if we are not careful or if we are silly enough to do it.

The depth of internet discussion on current issues

The key issues in the internet over the last week were AIM, bomb threat and the Punggol East by elections. Netizens were fully engaged in very serious and heated discussions over these issues and the intensity and volume of discussions must be a sign that they are things of great concern.

In contrast, reports of these issues in the main media were brief and scant and lack of continuity. This could be one of the drawbacks of the main media as they could not spare the space for a sustained discussion in depth and breath. And in the case of AIM and the bomb threat, both were promptly reported in the internet before the main media picked them up.

The main media is now finding it tough to play catch up to the ongoings and issues in the social media. The availability, timeliness and the space for in depth and engaging discussion in the social media will be an act very difficult for the main media to follow. The main media’s role is likely to be on reporting incidents on a once off basis, and this may not even be timely. The other role it can continue to play is to put up a monologue article, a one sided affair where discussion and engagement is rare and minimal or non existence. It is like a talk down instrument, telling the readers, informing the readers, and that is about it.

The social media is going to change all the news reporting and discussion on national or people issues to beyond what the main media can envisage. It is a totally new form and way of communication and journalism. It is engaging, alive and interactive and timely.

Home prices hit record high!

According to the latest URA report, ‘Singapore home prices climbed to a record in the fourth quarter after developers sold more homes,…’

This is a terrific piece of good news for all flat and landed property owners. I am also exceptionally pleased with this news as my little flat is going to be $1m soon. Then I can sell and migrate to some little corners of China or Thailand, or maybe Australia to spend my twilight years away from this dynamic and rich city.

Or maybe I will join my children in Europe and stay with them with all expenses paid. Whatever left over after my last days can be willed to them.

And there are people comparing Khaw Boon Wan with Mah Bow Tan to see who is worst. Now, now, I think that is a wrong approach, wrong attitude. Should compare who is better. I think Boon Wan is getting better and betterer with the housing prices under his charge.

The little misgiving I have is that my children will not want to be back here anymore. Both have very good post graduate papers and living abroad is no big issue to them.. Both will trade their places, and allow some foreign talents to take their places here. I think they will find it more cost effective to spend their money in other less costly countries. At least they have a choice. For the next generation of young Sinkies with no choice, I am sure they will all be most happy to buy the million dollar HDB flats and the multi million dollar private properties.

All will call themselves millionaires but taking public transports. They will probably be invited to enjoy the bungalows of their maids for holidays in the Philippines, Indonesia, India or Myanmar. And all Sinkies can live happily as millionaires in their flats, and to downgrade to smaller flats during their twilight years with nothing to worry about except don’t get sick.

Blurring the lines between foreigners and citizens

People living in Singapore should relate to one another as human beings first instead of trying to “pigeonhole” one another according to nationality, said Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Chan Chun Sing.

“When we look at an issue, let's try not to pigeonhole each other as a Singaporean or a foreigner, which can complicate the problem,” said the Minister, who was speaking to an audience of about 600 community leaders at the annual National Community Engagement Programme Dialogue on Saturday, reported the Straits Times.

I totally disagree with this approach to blur the lines between foreigners and citizens. The issue of citizens first and foreigners second has been thrashed many times and we are just beginning to see some difference with priorities and benefits skewing back to favour citizens. We must not allow anyone to blur the line again and let foreigners think they should be treated better than Sinkies or that both are equal.

This is our country and foreigners are foreigners. Foreigners are fair weather immigrants here to make money and to disappear when things are not to their liking. We can treat them fairly and decently but must always remember that foreigners are not citizens. The Govt is voted to be the govt by the citizens to look after the citizens. The interest of foreigners must be incidental and not be given priority or preference over citizens.

We even have 4 ethnic groups in our identity cards to define the differences. Why should we ignore the difference between foreigners and citizens especially when they crossed the line?

Algorithm trading is anathema to a healthy stock exchange

The fundamentals of a healthy stock exchange trading system are all about fair trading, equal opportunities, level playing field and transparency. All relevant and price sensitive information must be disclosed at an appropriate time to ensure fair play. Otherwise it will be insider trading and a violation of the exchange by laws. Buyers and sellers are to submit their bids into the trading system in a transparent manner for all parties to know what is going on. Hiding bids, placing fictitious bids or acts to confuse or deceive other traders and investors are also forbidden and can be punished by the stock exchanges. In short, no one is supposed to have an advantage over other parties by virtue of financial power or technology. No even unfair access to sensitive information.

In algorithm trading, many of the fundamentals of stock trading and stock exchange by laws have been violated and breached. The practice of allowing funds or brokerages to plug their super computers into the exchange system is itself a violation of fair trading and level playing field. How could these funds and brokerages be allowed to have such an advantage over other traders that did not have such expensive facility/equipment and access to time sensitive information to their advantage? Many exchanges even facilitate the big funds to hide and conceal their intent and bids to buy or sell, creating a false market. Innocent traders could thus be deceived of the market depth and spread with such computer assisted trading process.

Algorithm trading also takes advantage of size and speed. It is incredulous for an exchange to allow algo traders with such an advantage of time, making profits in micro seconds, and think nothing about it. It is criminal for exchanges to allow algo traders to trade in big volumes to bulldoze and to corner stocks, to distort the real value of shares and the market.

Computer technology must be harnessed to facilitate and ease trading without creating an unfair and unlevel playing field. Algo trading cannot be allowed into any stock exchange trading system if it violates the by laws and trading rules and regulations. For a fair and equitable system, as the traditional stock market used to be, it is best that such a system is closed and no external computer system is allowed to tap into it to take advantage of other investors and traders. The justification of algo trading to facilitate huge trading volumes cannot be the reason to give it an unfair advantage to profit from the system. Big traders and volumes should be entered into the system in a transparent way, by human operators, with the same advantage and disadvantage of manual input.

The regulators and authorities of stock exchanges shall bear the responsibility to ensure a fair and equitable trading system for all parties, big and small. Failing to do so is to be an accomplice to a crime against the victims for unfair practices. It could also be seen as an approval to allow foul practices in the stock market.

Computer technology like algorithm has reached a point when it can be very dangerous and unfair to other traders, and also the ability to create havoc and serious glitches to a trading system. The official position of the New York Stock Exchange on the May 2010 freak crash of Dow Jones is that it was totally an act of the computers, a computer ran amok. The truth is more than meets the eyes, and there is likely to be a culprit that profited from the 5 min crash and making a pile for himself. Algo trading has no place in the proper operations of a stock market. It is there to cheat, to take advantage of innocent traders, it is unfair trading. Algos were not developed at a very high cost, with very expensive equipment and technology, for nothing. They are designed to make huge profits by relying on the power of hi speed computers. Someone must pay for it. The more expensive is the system, the more treacherous it is and the more it demands for payback.

Do not be deceived by algo or computer trading. Like big foreign funds and hot money, they are not here to do charity. They have one common mission, to make as much money as they could, from the unwary and innocent lay people and traders. Algo trading is a Frankenstein in the stock market. For stock markets to survive and tradings to be healthy and fair, it must return to a close system where every human trader enters his bids the same way, in a transparent manner be it big or small amount. Allowing computers and algos to do the trading is a sure way to the demise of a stock market, a matter of when.

2013, a world in real trouble, fabricated trouble or insisted trouble

The whole world is in trouble. The American and European economies are in deep and real trouble. There is no denying that the USA is already a bankrupt nation, living in debt and printing money to keep the façade of prosperity for another few years. How long would it be able to sustain its high spending and high consumption economy in the absence of real economic growth and productivity is everyone’s guess. The enormous money printed by the Fed and churned up in the stock market and financial system is fictitious money. The American debt will keep growing and the greenback will keep depreciating.

In Europe several countries are in bankruptcy or near bankruptcy. The old wealth from conquest and colonialism is disappearing. The productive capacity of Europe cannot sustain the high standard of living and welfare that the Europeans are enjoying today and into the future. European economies are no longer competitive and productive.

The Middle East and several African nations in the peripheral are in dire straits. Their countries at war or devastated by wars, and their economies in ruin and would take years to recover. Thanks to the do gooders and their saviours that came to save them by destroying them first.

And there are countries that are perceived or told to be in trouble. The North Korea, Myanmar, now saved by opening up with the blessing and support of Asean, Iran and a few others on the list called the Axis of Evil. These countries are told to be in trouble, forever in trouble. Their people and leaders are all neurotics, mad and insane. They are perpetually messing up their own economies and wanting to burn down the whole world. Someone must have poisoned their food or water supply to drug them to be in a constant state of insanity and hostility to the people of the world. Their population are equality mad or ignorant of their own well being. In other words, their population are all idiots who cannot think or act for their own good, all in a state of delusion.

There is a third kind of countries in trouble, countries that the West insisted and prayed and hoped to be in trouble. These are countries that are told to be facing enormous troubles within that they are at the verge of imploding. They have no system, daft leaders, they did not know how to run their countries, the leadership is corrupt and facing ills of every kind. And the civilised and rich free world are eagerly waiting for their immediate collapse.

China is one such country. Despite the unbelieveable and record breaking speed it made to change a poverty stricken country of 1.3b people into one of the richest and most powerful country in the world, the western world, media and analysts are all saying that China is going to collapse. They are saying that the Chinese leaderships are made up of inepts, did not know what they are doing and will crash their economy very soon.

None of them would want to see the more than 10% growth rate of its economies sustained over the last 30 years. No, the numbers are faked, doctored and untruth. The truth, 1.3b people are being fed very well, quality of life improving, getting richer, becoming the factory of the world and all the luxury goods salesmen are in China peddling their overpriced goods to the country with the most millionaires and billionaires. No, this is not true. China is making up all these stories. The trillions of dollars of trade surplus are also fiction!

How could a country of 1.3b people turned themselves into an economic, political and military powerhouse when they are all fools, did not know what they are doing, mired with corruptions and all kinds of problems, and when the world economies were crashing, the big bankers and richest countries in the world were forming a beeline to China asking for charity and donations?

The Chinese leadership did not know what they are doing. They cannot think. Their policies are uncoordinated. The leadership is facing internal strife and infighting. They are in a mess. They do not know how to conduct diplomacy. They are belligerent. They are in trouble. Really?

2013, a year of reflection and introspection

As we greeted the new year 2013, we leave behind a year of notoriety, a year of great revelation, a year of shocking realities, a year that is best summed up by George Yeo’s famous comment, ‘Everything looks so perfect from the outside, but it is not real’. I can’t remember his exact words, but this is the gist of what he said during an interview in his private capacity as an ordinary citizen with the highsight of being in the govt in the year 2012.

Many things have been unveiled, more skeletons are coming out of the cupboards, many red faces for sure. Do not be misled by perfection. When everything looks so fine, so perfect, that is only a veneer of deception.

2013 is going to be more explosive than 2012 for sure. Sit back and relax and watch the events unfold. The truth is greater than fiction.

Should happiness be a national goal?

It’s the beginning of another year. Let me wish everyone a happy new year. Happiness is always intrinsic in new year greetings of all races and cultures. Wealth is the other main item in new year greetings. Health is also creeping in as a major concern as it is no longer a case of living healthily but a fear of falling sick and being robbed by the health providers and be emptied of one’s savings.

I was intrigued by the topic of happiness in a CNA programme that greeted me in the new year. The topic was whether happiness should be a national goal. The participants and panels were equally enlightened to know that this elusive subject is something that is best not to trifle with. They understood that happiness is a vague concept that meant so many things to so many people that one could hardly put a handle on it. Eventually the discussion tried to narrow down to equate happiness with material well being of the individuals and economic growth at the national level.

The nation’s economic growth as a convenient tool to measure happiness was also disparagingly dismissed as pure nonsense, a tool that could easily be abused by the perpetrators of the notion that economic growth is happiness. There is no doubt that economic well being or materialism could make life very comfortable, and living very convenient. But that’s where it ends.

The role of making people happy must not be passed to the hands of the govt. It is dangerous and can be exploited for all the wrong reasons. It is not that the govt does not know what happiness is, it is a very subjective thing and no one is wiser. What is sad is for a govt to assume this role that it knows better, it knows how to make people happy, and channel resources towards this goal like asset enhancement. One of the panellists said, it is ridiculous and bad for the govt to take money from the people through taxes and to pass back the money to the people and tell them it will make them happy. It is best the people keep their own money and decide what they want to do with their money to make themselves happy. Immediately the national ponzi scheme came to mind.

The concept of happiness is not directly related to material well being. Nevertheless, economic well being is something that the people want. This is about raising the quality of life of the people in material comfort. Many could be contented to be living well. Whether they are happy or unhappy is a totally different issue that only an individual will know. Only an individual could satisfy his own curiosity and idiosyncrasy of what he can be happy or what can make him happy. Basically the panellist disagreed with a role for the govt in making the people happy. But when the voting was called, 70% of the votes wanted happiness to be a national goal. Do they mean that they want the govt, who probably has as vague an idea as them on what is happiness, to mess around with their happiness or to tell them how to be happy or what makes them happy?

It is a strange conclusion to an interesting discussion. May 2013 be a happy new year for all of you, if you know what can make you happy. Maybe it is easier to know what will make you unhappy and you can start from that premise to stay happy.

DPRK has right to launch its satellite

China should never alienate the DPRK people for doing something they consider it their right to do. China and the Chinese people should never forget the difficulties they encountered in their pursuit of national independence and national revival in the past. The new Chinese leader Xi Jinping has just started talking about Chinese dreams of revival in the past few days. While China and the Chinese people think that they have the right to fulfill their national dream, how can China hope to deprive the DPRK people of those same rights to fulfill their dreams of national independence and a national revival?
As one of the oldest civilizations in the world, China and the Chinese people should never forget their national moral principle: jisuo buyu, wushi yuren ( do not impose on other people things you do not like yourselves) .
As the only third world country representative in the UN Security Council with the power of veto, China must uphold the principles that are fair to the aspirations of the vast population in the third world, which accounts for eighty percent of humanity, in order to be worthy of its permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Our world is full of trouble and miseries, and our future looks dim, exactly because a few powerful nations do whatever they please in this world in complete disregard of the principles of fairness to all. They use their advanced weapons, such as unmanned drones, to kill people they regard as a threat. They do not even need to prove to anybody in a court or anywhere that these people who are targeted by these lethal weapons deserve the death penalty before they are killed by the push of a button.
Nobody has made any outcry about these inhumane killings carried out in the third world by the US military and the CIA. Who give them the right to condemn North Korea for launching a satellite for peaceful purposes? The people of the world need to wake up to the real dangers present in this world, and support the weak third world countries' right to defend themselves.

Posted by Professor Han Dongping

Hillary Clinton the evil American demon politician

Hilary Clinton is a vicious wicked aggressive warmongering woman and a trouble maker in the traditional satanic line of evil American supremacist exceptionalism. She is also  very extremely anti-China and anti-Chinese. She has told much lies about China and adopted endless evil confrontational policies geared to stop Chinese peaceful development with the intention to split and weaken China and thus eventually hoping to destroy China and the Chinese people. Her wicked policies include supporting the terrorists brigands of the demon Dalai Lama and the Uighur separatists as well as stoking problems in the East China sea and the South China Sea hoping thus to drive Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines to start an open warfare with China. She should be cursed by all Chinese and all peace loving people and if there is such thing as a God she should be instantly despatched to hell so that she will not be able to cause any more trouble in this world.

Bomb threats or pranks intolerable for public safety and security

An Indian national by the name of Aditya Bhatia, a foreign student at the Global Indian International School, has posted in his facebook a threat against Singapore. He wrote that he would take a ‘big big revenge” on Singapore when he leaves the country… he is going to spit everywhere…he will “plant bombs on Marina Bay Sands”

This is no joke and no small threat. Anyone mentioning the word ‘bomb’ in the airport can be expected to be whisked into custody and subject to intensive interrogation by the police. Here is an explicit comment on an act of terrorism, planting bombs at the Marina Bay Sands.

For the police not to take action or to treat this case as a childish prank is unacceptable. Some had been arrested in the past for making reports of bombs over the phone. The country cannot afford to take such pranks or threats for granted. If this is not curbed immediately, it could lead to more of such nonsense being repeated. After a while, nobody will take them seriously, just like crying wolf. That will be serious as the guards will be down and a genuine threat may be mistaken for another prank and lives and properties could be lost.

No one, yes, no one, must be allowed to make such threats even as joke or a prank, or as an expression in a moment of folly or anger. The police must punish the culprit severely and make this case or any such cases forbidden to fool around with.

How safe are our women folks?

The horrific rape and the death of a medical student in India must be an eye opener to the people here, and also the authority for the risk it is taking with our women folks. Foreign workers, not only from India, but from other third world countries are simply country folks that are basically hungry and a bit wild with their basic instinct.

We have half a million of them here or there about. Many are living in very close proximity with our women folks, our oldies and children. While our men folks are away, working, many of these shift workers are hanging around in the void decks and corridors of HDB and even condos, with too much time in hand and nothing to do.

Like it or not, these are hungry men, and their basic instinct and sexual desire are often unsatisfied. Their roving hearts, roving eyes can easily be aroused and who knows what they could do. When the men folks are not around, the women folks are easy victims to such hungry men.

How safe are our women folks in the midst of these foreign workers? Are we playing with fire, taking for granted that nothing will go wrong, that in our home ground, we are safe. The foreign maids and Geylang could take off some pressure for the moment. But it would never be able to remove all the built up pressure and lust that need to be released. And all it needs is a moment of folly, a moment of animal lust and some people’s life will be in ruin.

Sobering realities

There is no free lunch and nothing comes free. The extremely high cost of govt, and the extremely high cost to keep the yodas’ salary in the millions when they don’t need them, when they have abundance of them, but not time, is the biggest flaw in the distribution of wealth in this Sin City. And where is the money coming from for all the big paychecks, for good work, bad work and for doing sweet nothing?

The sobering realities that Sinkies have not come to terms with, are not thinking or did not want to think about, is the high cost to maintain this govt and the coterie of elite in high places and collecting humongous paychecks. If the super talented elite could generate and create incomes for their paychecks and their gregarious appetite for millions, it would be another issue that is less worrisome. The problem is when they are not creating the revenue and income to pay themselves, then the money must come from the people in all kinds of ways and schemes.

Paying the yodas and elite at the kind of salary and perks and whatever, is like throwing money into a black hole, and the demand is for more and more. And the poor and average Sinkies, many still did not know, will be the ultimate paymasters to make the rich richer and themselves poorer.

The Sinkies must wish that the two sovereign funds make more profits. The constant and regular reports of the SWFs losing hundreds of millions or billions at every sour deal must not be greeted with joy and celebration. The losses will need to be patched up, and where is the most convenient source of income to do that? Sinkies must pray and pray that the SWFs are doing well and could generate enough profits for the yodas and elite. In that way, the poor Sinkies could be spared from coughing out more and not deplete whatever little savings they have squirreled away in the CPF.
This is the sobering truth. The poor Sinkies are subsidising and paying for the well being of the rich elite. Sinkies must not wish any local GLCs to make big profits as the source of revenue is likely from them. When the big landlords and public services or privatised public services are trumpeting their huge profits, they are profits made from the Sinkies, unless the profits are from overseas investments.

Be aware of this sobering truth. It is the hard truth Sinkies are paying for.

COE, a dangerous elitist trend of thought

In Saturday’s ST forum, two articles were published on the COE on how to make it effective as an instrument to control car ownership. Both thoughts were similar and highly elitist in nature. One former wanted to raise the cost of driving into congested area. Another wanted to make it more painful and unpleasurable to drive. There need to be more congestion to force people to take public transport.

Both forumers wanted to punish those who wish to drive by more or less the same solution, suggesting pay more until it hurts. For the rich this kind of reasoning and method of controlling driving is what they are wishing for. What is another hundred bucks when they could cough out a few hundred thousands to get a luxury car like small change? Who would be hurt most, those who cannot afford the high cost but must use private transportation out of no choice.

Elitism and elitist thoughts are very prevalent among the rich and super rich. They only think of the convenience money can buy for them and not how this kind of solution will make life very difficult, not only inconvenient to many average Sinkies. As it is, taxi fare must increase with higher COE. Public transport fare must also increase when more switched to public transport and the operators will claim the need to acquire more vehicles or upgrade the system.

The bottom line, the poor consumers down the bottom end would have to pay more for less, taking the same public transport and having to pay more for it. And the roads will be freer with lesser cars on the road, for the convenience and satisfaction of the rich that could afford the luxury of driving.

Original idea, original concept, original paintings

Talking about originality, the paintings created by the Art of RAR technique are absolutely original and conceptualised by Mother Nature. They are entirely new, unthought of by any human beings. They are Nature's own work, bearing Nature's trademark of exclusivity in every piece.

The works of many great masters are originals, and also imitations, or inspired by other masters' works. They pick up ideas from each other, innovate or refresh, made improvements to create more exciting works of art.

In the case of Art of RAR, Mother Nature does not need any inspiration from other human masters to create her own art pieces. There is no need to copy or imitate or improve on anyone else works. The works are Mother Nature's thumbprints and origin.

As time goes by, it is likely that such works of art will provide inspiration for other painters to become more creative and to produce even better works. Human artists and painters need inspiration, sometimes guidance from all sources, particularly from Nature. Mother Nature is the source of everything and will create works to inspire and to raise the level of art to ever higher art forms.

Mother Nature is original, the origin.

Brutal gang rape victim from India died in Mt Elizabeth Hospital

The 23-year-old victim of the brutal gang rape and assault in Delhi died early this morning at the Mt Elizabeth Hospital here. The attack against this young medical student by animals walking on two legs has triggered mass protest in Delhi that is infamous for sexual crimes against the females. This poor young woman will now become another statistics and will soon be forgotten.

No one will know her name except her relations. She will only be known as the rape victim, like all the brutalised women in a male chauvinistic society that think of nothing about abusing women sexually. Many politicians and scions of powerful families have been involved in such sexual violence and got away Scot free, and still running for political office or remain in political office.

Women should be careful and not get too close to such highly sex individuals. Wearing sexy clothing, short skirts, etc, could trigger their animal desire. There are many foreign workers here who are alone, sex starved and have the same mentality. The men in blue should be extra careful not to loosen their control over such potential behaviour. Sinkie women are too innocent and did not know what they are asking for in their company. Do not tempt them. It's your fault if you do.

India needs a revolution and this can only be championed by their women, to defend themselves against such heinous violations from highly sex men. Rest in peace, sex victim and victims.

PAP clean sweep in Punggol East by election

The prospect of a 5 corner contest in the Punggol East by election led me to take a peep at my crystal ball. And the result is a clean sweep for the PAP with an unbelieveable victory of 90% of the votes. The opposition parties lost their deposits, everyone of them. No, this is no fluke. There is no hint or sign of fraud that led to this scintillating result for the ruling party. It is the best endorsement for the PAP and a thrashing for the folly and silliness of opposition parties that rightly do not deserve any support from the voters. The people decide to kick their silly asses to wake them up.

The thinking goes like this. What are the opposition parties trying to do? It is clear as day light that going on more than a straight fight would put their chances of winning very low. 3 corners are as good as losing outright. Anything more might as well forget the trouble, save the money and effort and don’t waste the people’s time. All they could gain, perhaps, is some cheap air time, some cheap publicity, to say a few angry words to the people. What else do they seriously think of achieving in a 5 corner fight? To prove their stupidity?

The other thinking is that there are moles present in the opposition parties that want to deliver the seat to the PAP. But the people would not know who is the mole, or how many are moles. And knowing that the outcome is going to be a PAP victory, might as well deliver the votes to the PAP and teach the clowns or moles a lesson. This could be an explanation of the final result. And there is no need to curse and swear for the missed opportunity just like the President Election. There is no point in blaming the other candidates that they should have pulled out of the race.

When opposition parties are thinking of having a wild party in every by election, to have a good time at all cost, they are not going to get any sympathy vote from the people. The people may be daft, but not silly. If the opposition parties are not serious and wanting to make every by election counts, why should the people take them seriously?

Under the present circumstances, with 5 parties contesting, my crystal ball is crystal clear who the eventual winner will be. No need guessing.

The National Celebration

The national football team won the Suzuki Cup for the 4^th time, beating Thailand who was also vying for a fourth time victory. It was a big victory, something similar to the medals the table tennis team won in the Olympics. It was also cause for a national celebration.

The victories of the two teams have many things in common.  Both were great sporting achievements for the country, with imported players. The table tennis team was nearly a complete foreign talent team. The football team was regulated and the number of foreign players was restricted. One cannot help but to notice the foreign faces all over, including the coach. After so many years of foreign coaches, some are begging for the coach to stay on as there was no local talent coach available, trained and prepared to take over the national team when the current coach leaves. In terms of coaches, the table tennis team is looking more like a total dependency on foreign talents.

The other big similarity was the victory tours. Both teams were paraded in some parts of the city with autograph and photo taking sessions. Both were touted as big national events. There were great expectations of the citizens flooding the streets to welcome the heroes and heroines. There were reports of a national celebration, trophies to bring Singaporeans together, to make Singaporeans proud.

I was not in any of the celebrations. Based on the media, the celebrations were more muted, attended by a few diehard fans. There was no spontaneous outburst of joy that the country and its citizens have achieved greatness in the sporting fields. Whatever celebrations they seemed to have fizzled out in double quick time. There were no street parties or overnight parties happening across the island. Not many people even bother to talk about it.

Should Singaporeans rally to such successes and feel proud to be Singaporeans that Singaporeans can be world beaters?

Medical fees for the seniors in Hongkong

‘…in HK everybody enjoys virtually free medical benefits. This is especially worthwhile for seniors who have more needs to see a doctor. In HK, all government hospitals charge a maximum of only HK$100 = S$16 for the treatment of any disease inclusive of all medicines, regardless of how many times the patient has to come back to see the doctor. …’

This is an extract from an article by AFP on the benefits of growing old in Hongkong. One of the biggest bug bear of ageing is medical fee. And if I read the article right, ‘everybody enjoys virtually free medical benefits’ in HK, not free totally but the cost must be quite minimal compares to what Sinkies are paying in our public hospitals. And $16 for the seniors, inclusive of medicine is a steal. And there is no mean testing to see who gets what or how much difference must be the subsidies. They are not that mean and petty.

Hongkong is very similar in nature to Sin City in many ways, including standard of living, cost of living and even taxation. Why shouldn’t our govt use the HK medical model to structure our medical services, particularly the fees for citizens and senior citizens? Why is it that HK can afford such medical benefits for its citizens and we cannot despite the billions or maybe trillions of reserves that we boast about? And the subsidies for medical services must be quite enormous for the HK Govt to bear, and the best part, it is not going bankrupt for providing them.

In the same article it was suggested that the cost savings by the HK Govt is that they don’t pay their politicians and civil servants ‘out of this world’ salary. And they too are not corrupt, quite as corruption free as Sin Govt. Should Sin Govt learn from HK Govt or vice versa, to provide good quality medical services to the citizens at very reasonable cost, but not very affordable cost? Is the quality of the medical service in HK much lower than that in Sin or comparable while the cost to the HK people is really peanuts?

The most frightening thing in Sin today is to fall sick, young or old. Many will be facing bankruptcy even with Medisave and Medishield unless one is very well provided with private insurance to end up paying less than $10 for a major op.