Japanese rightwingers a threat.

Japanese rightwingers a threat
Updated: 2013-01-09 08:07
( China Daily)


Comment on "Japan still haunted by the idea of militarism" (China Daily, Dec 20)

I agree with everything the author, Tom Clifford, has said in his article. There is no doubt that "there are disturbing similarities" between the rise of Japanese militarism in the 1930s and recent developments. The world knows full well the disastrous consequences of Japan's militarism for China, Asia and the rest of the world, including Japan itself.

But there are three major differences between now and the 1930s, which the Japanese should reflect on.

First, China is no longer the weak, divided and virtually rudderless country it was in the 1930s. China today is a united and confident country that has overtaken Japan to become the second largest economy in the world.

Second, neither is the rest of Asia a collection of backward countries controlled by Western colonial powers. Instead, it is, generally speaking, a group of economically dynamic and mostly politically stable states.

Finally, Japan is no longer a politically dynamic society. Rather it is a country with the largest aging population in Asia that has failed to educate its youth on the tragedy Japanese militarists brought down on their own country in their bid to conquer the rest of Asia through war and torture. As the old English saying goes, those who fail to understand the lessons of their own history are destined to repeat them.

Ross Grainger,


    Southernglory1    2013-01-09 21:48
     Chinese people not only in China but also in other parts of Asia especially in South East Asia had suffered enough of Japanese atrocities in the past. The Chinese people must not allow the Japanese militants to rise up again. The bankrupt Americans are playing with fire in a dangerous manner in supporting the right wing Japanese militarists to confront China as its proxy. China should be highly and fully prepared for an all out total war against the Japs and the sinful and desperate American warmongers. China must be prepared to destroy all the Japanese and American cities and military stations wherever they may be with atomic and hydrogen bombs. It is time to let the Japs and the Americans know that we Chinese have suffered enough from their aggressions and we will retaliate against them without mercy. If they want to destroy the world, let it be.

The Evil Empire, USA rearming Japan as its proxy against China

Japanese rightwingers a threat
Updated: 2013-01-09 08:07
( China Daily)


Comment on "Japan still haunted by the idea of militarism" (China Daily, Dec 20)

I agree with everything the author, Tom Clifford, has said in his article. There is no doubt that "there are disturbing similarities" between the rise of Japanese militarism in the 1930s and recent developments. The world knows full well the disastrous consequences of Japan's militarism for China, Asia and the rest of the world, including Japan itself.

But there are three major differences between now and the 1930s, which the Japanese should reflect on.

First, China is no longer the weak, divided and virtually rudderless country it was in the 1930s. China today is a united and confident country that has overtaken Japan to become the second largest economy in the world.

Second, neither is the rest of Asia a collection of backward countries controlled by Western colonial powers. Instead, it is, generally speaking, a group of economically dynamic and mostly politically stable states.

Finally, Japan is no longer a politically dynamic society. Rather it is a country with the largest aging population in Asia that has failed to educate its youth on the tragedy Japanese militarists brought down on their own country in their bid to conquer the rest of Asia through war and torture. As the old English saying goes, those who fail to understand the lessons of their own history are destined to repeat them.

Ross Grainger,


    Southernglory1    2013-01-09 21:48
     Chinese people not only in China but also in other parts of Asia especially in South East Asia had suffered enough of Japanese atrocities in the past. The Chinese people must not allow the Japanese militants to rise up again. The bankrupt Americans are playing with fire in a dangerous manner in supporting the right wing Japanese militarists to confront China as its proxy. China should be highly and fully prepared for an all out total war against the Japs and the sinful and desperate American warmongers. China must be prepared to destroy all the Japanese and American cities and military stations wherever they may be with atomic and hydrogen bombs. It is time to let the Japs and the Americans know that we Chinese have suffered enough from their aggressions and we will retaliate against them without mercy. If they want to destroy the world, let it be.

SGX to report daily short-selling volumes

Move will alert investors and help pricing efficiency as bourse gets more transparent
By Kenneth Lim

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) will report daily short sales volumes for every counter beginning in March as it aggressively pursues leadership status in the field of risk management and transparency, the bourse announced yesterday.

In short-selling, traders borrow shares and sell them in the hope of buying them back cheaper in the future, thus profiting from a drop in the share price. With the rule, traders will have to tag as a short sale any trade in which the seller does not own the shares. SGX said it will publish daily reports on the total value and volume of short sales for each counter…quoted from the BT Premium online.

Personally I feel that allowing shorting to distort the market or value of stocks is unhealthy, undesirable and can be abused by the big boys to cheat the small traders. There must be a limit to how much stocks can be shorted to avoid market manipulation. Let there be genuine buyers and sellers and not naked shortists. It is just not right or good for the market when big boys have all the muscles to shake a market up or down.

Disclosing short selling positions is good. But this information is completely useless if the shortists could cover up their short positions by script borrowing. Scrip borrowing is a silly thing and must not be allowed except for trading errors, or if desirable, only a small limited number of short positions be allowed. Allowing shorting is already bad, naked short even badder, but nothing beats scrip lending to the shortists to destroy the value of good stocks and even the whole market with their unruly action.

If shorting is allowed, then let it be, let it be reported, and let the shortists cover their positions from the open market. Remove the scrip lending facilities. This facility should be used only for trading errors.

Punggol East by election has to be one on one

This is a truism that everyone knows. Anything other than this is a waste of time for the opposition parties. Are the opposition parties really going to go for a 5 corner fight or 3 corner fight?

I believe they are sensible people and will not let selfish interest, pride or ego get in the way and make a fool out of every one of them. And the joke will be on them if they do so. The other theory is that the moles will appear to do the most damage possible as this by election is going to be another big step for the opposition should they take another seat from the PAP.

How would it end up on nomination day? All the posturing and chest thumping could be just that and sanity would rule and a proper and real contest will be set up on polling day. That is what everyone wish to see, everyone who wants to see a good fight.

We will have to wait and see.

AIM – It is all WP’s fault

I have read several comments in TRE concerning the AIM issue and it seems that the fault lies with the WP. It is all because the WP was given a red card and it is not turning the table around. Some even accused the WP for taking so long to bring up this problem. The WP should have known when they took over the TC that something is not right. Why take more than a year to bring the matter up? Why wait until given red card that want to fight back? WP must be sleeping! I quote a comment by a ‘bravo’ in TRE for saying this. ‘If it is a matter of urgent public importance, why didn’t WP revealed it 19 months ago?’ See, this must not be important or WP would have raised it so long ago.

And worst, WP knowing that it is wrong, also thinking of outsourcing or developing their own management system. And dunno what kind of open system WP will use. Would it be as top notch and proper as the TC system? When WP does call a tender, many doubts will be raised.

And now WP even wants to raise the issue in Parliament. How can? Many people are claimed to be unhappy that WP is raising this issue in Parliament. There is really no issue here. At worst it may be an error of judgement. People do make mistakes. And this is a small mistake. And the whole arrangement was for the good of the people. The TCs saved a lot of money. And there is no profit going into anyone’s pocket. Everything was done legally to benefit the people.

WP must be prepared to be laughed at when the issue is being discussed in Parliament. They will be bombarbed by the most articulate MPs and ministers for bringing the issue up to Parliament when the PM has already called for an investigation. WP could also be faulted for not developing an alternative system fast enough. They will likely be jeered at, sneered at and stared at. WP sure kenna jia lat, jia lat.

This session in Parliament sure fully attended by everyone and will be shown live on TV. No censorship, no cuts, in full. It will be a Special Report that will draw the most viewers, even better than soap dramas from Taiwan and Korea.

WP, it is all your fault, right? What do you think?

Video

Hypocrisy and War Crimes: The Western Imperium

by Robert S. Rodvik

The U.S. has a long history of unleashing chemical and biological warfare against civilians both abroad and at home, primarily as an experiment but also to get rid of outdated stockpiles while inventing a villain to crucify. Canadian author Robert Rodvik rips into Barack Obama for hypocritically warning Syria against its alleged use of chemical weapons and lambastes his own country which, from a potential U.S. target, turned into a U.S. accomplice in the chemical warfare waged against the Vietnamese people.

Voltaire Network | 11 November 2012

Punggol East By Election 26 January.

SINGAPORE: A by-election will be held for Punggol East Single-Member Constituency (SMC), after Member of Parliament Michael Palmer resigned over an extra-marital affair.

Nomination Day will be held on 16 January 2013. If more than one candidate stand for nominations on Nomination Day, Polling Day will be held on 26 January 2013. Polling Day will not be a public holiday....

The above is announced in Channel News Asia.

Easy path to corporate success

The trial of SCDF chief is scheduled next month. Another case of the police chief is in process. Fortunately the Speaker’s case need not go to court. The common factor of all three cases is feminine wiles or sex. This is one of the oldest tricks used by the fairer sex for personal advancement, for promotion, contracts or favours. Some have used this so successfully that they would go around encouraging other less able and simple minded women to do the same. Search around for powerful and successful men, lean on the men, and be rewarded. The association, to be seen around powerful and successful men, to be known as these men’s companions is itself a reward. Women with no confidence of their own ability will become easy prey to such enticements. Not much effort needed, just give them what they want. Be nice to them.

This prompted me to take a look at the stockbroking industry. The stock broking profession is safe, I think, from such feminine exploits, for throwing themselves to management would not get one a promotion or a big contract. Maybe a few inactive clients or names of walk in clients will be the best they could get. Not worth the pound of flesh. Offering to successful traders or remisier kings may be equally futile. In one sense, there is no remisier king left, though there are still some quite successful ones around.

Those still in the industry are all in the same sinking boat. And their intelligence or stupidity in stock picks will be as good as that of those thinking of currying their favour. Some dimwits would be easily impressed by a few success stories. But it is common knowledge that for each success story there will be tens or more of failures.

Would there be the dumb blonds looking for successful big names to lean on, or to think it is an honour to be associated? I doubt so. They are not that daft to think of worshipping gods when they should be working to be gods themselves.

The easy path to corporate success is definitely not applicable to the stock broking industry. To be successful, one just has to prove it on one’s own merit, not on other people’s merits or by association. There would be no sensational news of Cecilia or Stella to boot in the stock broking industry.

Taking AIM into the wilderness

The AIM saga is not going to go away. First impression, if it counts, is that it is in muddy waters. There are so many things that the general public do not think were right and the stench is getting foul as the days go by.

On the PAP side, several efforts were made by Teo Ho Pin, Chandra Das and a minister in Grace Fu to explain that everything is in order. Unfortunately the explanations only helped to muddy the water even more and people listening to the explanations are getting exasperated. It is something that cannot be explained away. It is like the proverbial elephant that is too big to be covered up.

Three presidential candidates in the last Presidential Election have all chipped in to air their dissatisfaction over the whole saga. This can only mean that they were in agreement that something is not right. The only presidential candidate that became the President has yet to say anything. Perhaps he disagrees with the other three and did not see anything wrong with the AIM. Until the President speaks, no one would know what he is thinking and his position on this matter. Maybe it is a matter that should not involve the President.

What would be the likely outcome of this episode? So far the official explanation is not cutting any ice. Could more explanations help, or it is already a failed cause? If this is a failed cause, how would it affect the PAP’s standing and its performance in the next GE?

Or would the PAP bite the bullet, conduct an inquiry and sacrifice a few heads to redeem itself? I wrote this yesterday and this morning read the papers that Hsien Loong has called for an inquiry. After the last GE a few ministerial heads rolled. Would this episode lead to similar results?

As I said in my first posting on this subject, Teo Ho Pin’s explanation will have great consequences to the eventual outcome of this episode. What the public have been told so far is that public money was spent to develop a management programme and this is sold to AIM which is a PAP organisation. And AIM is making money by charging a fee to the Town Councils, and the people are paying for it. Is this the right perception?

Public institution or political organization

The AIM saga has led many to question the nature of Town Councils. Are TCs public institutions or are they political organizations? This also brings to question whether the People’s Association is a public institution or a political organization. According to Tan Cheng Bock, TCs are public institutions. Baey Yam Keng said otherwise, that they are political organizations and the AIM saga has been over politicized. Should not that be the case since they are political organizations?

What are the differences between a political organization and a public institution? There are many and very obvious differences without having to split hairs. Academics may have a long list of definitions or what is and what is not. I would simply lay out a few cogent points of what is a public institution and what is not.

A public institution is often formed to serve the interests of the public in general, not a particular group or political party. It draws its funds from the public or from the govt. It is has no links to any political party. These should be brief and easy to understand. Political organizations are simply organizations of political parties to serve party interests.

An organization that is paid by the public or by public funds from the govt should be a public institution. Political organizations that serve the interests of political parties must not be paid by public fund or the govt. There is a big grey area that need not be grey at all, that is the govt. The govt is made up of political parties, singular or a coalition. They are political parties first and the govt second. It could be the other way round. The govt is to serve the general public of all political colours. But this is easier said than done. Most govt will look at party interests first and public interests second for self preservation and selfish interests. Ideally, political parties should shed their politics when elected to form the govt and serve the public at large as one people of one country. I said ideally, and I am asking too much. Even immortals will be biased to favour party interests than public interests.

The govt aside, should TCs be public institutions or political organizations? Likewise, is the PA a public institution or political organization? Who is footing the bill? Who pays their salaries and activities? The govt using public fund or the political party using party fund?

Recognition and verification of foreign talent qualifications

Read recently that some organizations are starting to verify the degrees of foreign talents here. Some have been doing it for quite some times. The problems of forged or fake foreign degrees is not so simply verified by a check with the institutions issuing the degrees. Knowing the ingenuity and laxity of third world countries, many such verifications are just a waste of time. You would need a more robust and reliable verification procedure agreed upon by both countries and the institutions of higher learnings. This has to be seriously done as the damage and stupidity of hiring fakes and idiots to be bosses of our world class university graduates is so ridiculous and it is just a laughing stock.

The other related problem with recognition of foreign degrees is the quality or validity of such degrees. Are the institution issuing the degrees respectable and the teachings of good quality. A good yardstick would be our local universities. Are they equivalent or are they just crabby? Can imagine we put so much emphasis on the quality of our institutions of higher learning and the tedious and strenuous learning processes our students have to go through only to be rubbished by rubbish from rubbish universities.

Did the Govt sign agreements with foreign govts to accept their degrees of all colours and stripes to work here and to kick the butts of our very own students from our best universities? Can this really be the case? Our top grade students ended up working for pariah graduates from pariah institutions, or fakes? Do we have to live with such sick jokes? And this is not a joke when our children are adversely affected.

The other shitty about such agreements is that our graduates would not want to apply for shitty jobs in shitty countries. So it is a non issue. It is shitty countries that want all their shitty graduates to be accepted here and be recognized as the equals if not better than out graduates. How silly?

Jason Chee, nothing will be enough for you

Eng Hen visited Jason Chee in the high dependency ward in Changi General Hospital. Jason, a naval Military Expert, lost both his limbs, a hand and left with a right arm with only two fingers when he was caught in a winch while on duty. He has lost practically everything while serving the Navy.

This is the price our young people paid for serving the nation, losing limbs and lives. Eng Hen has promised that Mindef will provide long term support for Jason. A little consolation knowing how expensive medicare is here. But nothing can be enough for Jason. He is going to struggle through life in all physical aspects and the emotions and depression that are going to accompany him for the rest of his life.

Not only will he bear the pain, his parents and relations will have to bear with him. The price of being a citizen and serving the nation in uniform can be very heavy. There is nothing anyone can do to give Jason back his normal life. Nothing.

Vincent Wijeysingha and Alex Au - Be sued or apologise

Within one day we witnessed two bloggers, one an aspiring politician and another a social activist, being issued with legal letters threatening to sue them if they did not remove what they posted and apologise to the purportly victims of their articles. Both admitted that they have posted things that are defamatory in nature. Both are also tertiary educated and are not the kopitiam gossipers that would shoot first and think later. They might know what they have posted were defamatory, or they did not and only knew about its defamatory nature after being threatened with a law suit.

What is material is that they got what they wanted to say across, in the social media and had their messages read and understood. The points were made, rightly or wrongly, truth or untruth does not matter any more.

On the part of their target victims, the latter had the options not to react, to do nothing or to threaten to sue and demand an apology. Not doing anything would be welcomed by those who believe in ‘freedom of speech’. It would also allow certain statements being made against them and by nothing responding, some may believe they are truths. By reacting, like suing, some may see it as a defense of their dignity and integrity. Some may see it as being overly sensitive and bullying. This could look bad in a way.

For those who wrote defamatory statements, by admitting so, does it mean that the statements are untrue and that they were making false accusations? When people have done wrong and when exposed, the whistle blower is just telling the truth and cannot be threatened or sued for defamation. The customers of the underaged prostitute, or those who admitted to have indiscretions, cannot sue anyone for saying these facts. In this sense, people who withdrew their defamatory statements were saying that what they said were untrue. Tiok boh?

So, for all that Vincent Wijeysingha and Alex Au had written, now that they had withdrawn the articles and apologised, it was all a hoax, no element of truth in them. Like the judge in the courts will now tell the jury to ignore whatever that were spoken as they were not relevant to the case. A better case would be to sue the whistle blower even if it is true as long as the whistle blower did not have the money to fight the lawsuit. That is the best kind of justice that money can buy.

What do you think?

Force to get married for a flat

Disappointed relatives and a mortified Ken demanded to know if there was a “third party”. Yes there was!

You could put it like this – the third party was HDB. I feel like I was forced to decide to get married early because if I waited until I was, say, 30 and ready to settle down, to wait another three to four years to get a BTO flat would leave me no time to start a family. Everyone told me that Ken and I had to hurry up and apply for a flat together and then quickly get married once the flat application was successful,” said Janice, who just started work as an accountant last year….

Marriage counsellors here say Janice is not alone. All three marriage counsellors Yahoo! Singapore spoke to said that cases of young women and men backing out of marriage at the last minute are on the rise by as much as two times in the past two years – and most cases were because they were not ready but were forced to commit in order to secure a home in advance.
Says Mdm A. De Souza, 42, who, with her husband, has been counselling couples for ten years at a religious organization:…

I would say that I am now seeing at least double the number of such troubled brides. It used to be that most of them split up just before because of third party issues or quarrels over financial matters, but now it’s always “I wasn’t ready” and “I felt forced because of my flat”.
It’s a serious problem – these young people are so worried about practical concerns like getting a home that they neglect the most important question – are they emotionally prepared?

The above is extracted from Runaway brides in Singapore: Janice’s story (part 1).

This is a very serious development that the super talents obviously have missed out. The public flat, or housing, is such a crucial factor in the lives of Sinkies that they are being forced to do things, make very important life decisions, compromise their lives, all because of the housing policies. Housing must not become the sole determinant of the people’s lives and squeezing so much money from the people. It is a very bad policy.

This is the same as the having more baby policy. It discards all the good reasons for having babies but focussed on the babies as another digit to the big economic growth formula. The policy makers just ignore the interests of the parents and the babies, their financial and psychological problems in having babies. Just have babies because the Govt wants more babies for economic growth.

And for housing, which is a major responsibility of the Govt, it arrogantly took the position that it could do whatever it wants, dictate to the people, and make the people go crazy, begging to have the chance to buy a public flat at all cost. Their welfare and well being are not a consideration to the Govt. You want a flat, you play by all the sick rules they made.

How’s that for paying millions for super talents in charge of your lives, to mess up your lives and squeeze as much money as they can from you? Getting married not because the people wanted to or are ready for it, but because of a flat! Making babies not because they want to or have the financial resources and mental state of mind to want to have babies, because the Govt says so!

The people are being reduced to numbers and objects of the economy, not living human beans.

School days over for Morgan.

There was no room for advancement to Pre University level. At 16, he was to enter the world of working adults. He should count himself lucky. Many of his childhood friends had been working in the kopitiams after PSLE. That was quite a normal route of progress at a time when living was casual and natural. There was no grief or pain for becoming a kopi kia and doing odd job as labourers.

Morgan already had his offer, as a bouncer in a bar in some corners of Balestier Road. He was big and strong enough for the job. There was no need for any application to write. He was handpicked or head hunted by one of the triad boss that he met while frequenting the bars.

Though Morgan’s highest standard passed was not even PSLE but completed Secondary 4, he turned down the bouncer’s offer. He was to lead a team of salesmen to distribute Van Houten and Nestle products. The father of his brother in law happened to be one of the Three Oxes of Tanglin. The ward of Tanglin was shared by these three seniors of the area. They were the bosses that operated the underground trades, bars, gambling, prostitution, etc etc. The job offered to Morgan was like godsend. How many who failed the Senior Cambridge Examination could enjoy such good fortunes of landing two jobs on their lap, without lifting a finger to write an application letter?

The supervisor job came with a decent income and a mini van as his personal vehicle. Life was good for a 16 year old. And life began at night, in the bars of Balestier, Jalan Besar and Geylang. Drinking and smoking and merry making with his salesmen and new found friends every night was Morgan’s routine. Daylight was spent in his office in a prewar house in Kuok Road that served also as a warehouse for his sweets, chocolate and confectionary goods.

Kuok Road was a busy street especially during lunch hours. Traffic was heavy as it was a favourite haunt for food in one of the lanes behind the old Orchard Wet Market, the present Robinson Shopping Centre. Morgan’s first encounter with the power of the triad bosses came when one of his salesmen reported his goods being stolen from his van. The vans were normally parked along side the shophouses for loading and unloading. Apparently someone found the unattended vans easy target. It was a short distance from the warehouse. It would take a couple of minutes for moving the goods in and out of the warehouse. This was good enough to walk by to lift a few boxes of free chocolates or merchandise.

The matter was raise with his father in law. A stakeout was arranged. The loading and unloading went on as usual. The thief struck but was bundled into a waiting van by a few men in double quick time. He was never seen or heard of again. With such powerful friends in the background, life was easy for Morgan. He spent his free time inside the warehouse practising his nanchaku, made famous by Bruce Lee.

Lunch time was noisy and busy in Kuok Lane. One such routine afternoon was interrupted by the shouting of Ah Siong’s voice. Ah Siong was a childhood friend of Morgan and share the same academic achievements with flying colours. Morgan roped him in as a salesman. Morgan went out to check the commotion. Ah Siong’s van was in the middle of the road and a Datsun was in a parking lot he was attempting to back into. Apparently the Datsun driver drove head on into the slot while Ah Siong was attempting to reverse into it. Ah Siong was there first and he related the incident to Morgan. ‘Get out’, Morgan pointed to the driver. This was ignored and the driver walked off. He was stopped by Morgan who told him in a harsher tone, ‘Get out or else…’

By then the driver too was getting agitated. He waved a card at Morgan and shouted that he was a police officer. Morgan was not to be intimidated and snatched at the card. The plain clothed police officer withdrew his card swiftly. Morgan moved in at great speed, a skill he learnt while being a national fencer. It was followed by a lightning punch that connected the officer’s jaw. He spun around, dropped and hit the road. Before Morgan could make further attacks, he heard the slamming of doors of another car behind him. Out came several police officers in plain clothes.

The officers were there for lunch and were furious that Morgan attacked one of them. One stretched out to grab Morgan, wanting to drag him into their car. This was blocked by Morgan’s oversized arm and the officer gave an ‘ouch’ cry as his arm was thrown off. While the officers kept threatening Morgan to go with them, Morgan coolly swaggered into his office, lighting a cigarette along the way. Then he warned the officers not to step into his office. He told the officers to send a marked police car if they wanted him to go to the station.

A moment of truce and silence took over from the noisy shouting and threatening voices. The crowd gathered to watch the excitement. Ah Siong and the other drivers also retreated into the warehouse. All of them were shivering in their pants and wondering how the matter would turn into. It was a serious matter to strike at a police officer. They were more frightened when the police car came to whisk Morgan away. They could only think of the worst. The police of the time were noted for being tough with the criminals and the triad members. Entering a police station, in the hands of the law, getting manhandled and rough up were the normal courtesy extended to their uninvited visitors. In this instance, Morgan was likely to be given a good bashing for his thoughtless attack on their comrade in arms. Beating a police officer was unheard of in those days, or even today.  Morgan must have gone bonkers. It was senseless and reckless.

Morgan beating up a police officer was hot news. It went ‘viral’ and the whole underworld came to know about it. They laughed at the stupidity of this new kid in the block and expected Morgan to be taught a good lesson for it. At least, Morgan was famous in the wrong way, a notoriety in the underworld of triads and hoodlums.

Morgan sat waiting at a table in the backroom of Tanglin Police Station at the junction of Orchard Road and Scots Road where Ion now stood. Soon a tough and gangster looking officer came and plunged himself on the table in front of Morgan. He stared down at Morgan, slammed his palm onto the table. It was their way of shattering the light out of any wrong doers. Short of lifting Morgan up in the air to shake him out, this was the best he could do. At 18, Morgan was big and not an easy thing to lift even for a well built man.

Morgan was not impressed or startled. It was a test of grit and will. Seeing that his antics had no effect, the officer began unbutton his shirt. The tattoos flashed out from his chest. Morgan also unbuttoned his shirt, and there were tattoos as well. Morgan also had tattoos over his arms and back. His favourite was a man leaning on a lamp post with his head bowed. This was etched on his upper left arm. Four Chinese characters below the tattoo read ‘chiat pah tan si’, or ‘eat full wait die’.

The confrontation between the officer and Morgan were more verbal and posturing, with each trying to size up the other. Morgan was allowed to make a call. (To be continued)

China must intensify its effort to control it territories in East and South China Seas

The last flexing of muscle by Japan in scrambling eight F15s to intercept China’s surveillance aircraft over Diaoyu Island is a rude reminder that China cannot continue to act like a gentleman. It has to act like a gangster when it is dealing with gangsters. China must continue to patrol its islands in East and South China seas, both in the air and in the seas. Let the Japanese or who ever try to fire at Chinese aircraft or ships. When they do so, it is time for China to test its weapons in the satellites, in the seas, under the seas, and its SAM batteries. It must take down the aggressors who fired first to mean business.

The West and the Japanese are retuning to the past when gunboat diplomacy, use of military force, is the language of international policies. Should China chicken out in the face of these confrontational acts, not only Japan and the USA will be emboldened and be more aggressive and provocative, the pesky countries will jump into the bandwagon to have a party at China’s expense.

Is China militarily up to it to take them on? It better be, as the cards are stacked for a military confrontation with Shinzo Abe in power.

GIC, a comforting change

Ng Kok Song, the 64 year old veteran Chief Investment Officer of GIC has retired. He is replaced by a younger Lim Chow Kiat, 42. This move is not only comforting but also reassuring. Song Seng Wun of CIMB also agreed that it is a good move to promote from within.

My beef is more than that. With the influx of so many foreign talents, some dressed up as Sinkies waving their pink ICs, it is so scary that many of them will sit in many strategic positions in govt or govt linked companies. I never like the idea of foreigners or new citizens taking up such important positions, managing Sinkie money and assets. I can be trusting and generous in thinking that human nature can also be good. But never be too trusting of strangers. Important positions are best left to true blue Sinkies. This is their home and this is where they belong and where their interests lie.

Let’s hope the Govt will take this point very seriously and not foolishly give away important and strategic positions to foreigners, including PRs and newly minted citizens. The Govt must be prudent and ever vigilance over national interests and the wealth and assets of Sinkies. It is also a way of developing our own human resource and talents, providing them the opportunities to be groomed into such positions.

The banking and finance industry is in a very pathetic state of development where locals will not make it to the top unless father happens to be boss man. So only foreign talents will be given the chance to try and experiment in top banking positions. This piece of GIC news is crucial and hopes it will be the new trend to use Sinkies for such strategic and important appointments in the private and public sectors.

Charity begins at home.

Lee Hsien Loong taking legal action against blogger Alex Au

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong speaks to media representatives from Singapore and India in this file photo. PM Lee is taking legal action against blogger Alex Au for allegations made in a post about the sale of computer systems used by town councils. -- ST PHOTO: CAROLINE CHIA

Alex Au has written a 4 part article on the Town Council Management System and its sale to AIM. In the article he touched on many pertinent details of the saga that may prove to be too much for the Govt to ignore. It seems that there were allegations made against Hsien Loong amounting to corruption. This has led to the issuance of a letter by Davinder Singh from Drew and Napier demanding that the article be removed.

Alex Au has since complied and had the article taken down. It was also reported that he had made an apology in his blog as well. But is this the end of his trouble with the Govt? If the above quote is correct, Hsien Loong is going to take legal action against him. At this juncture I am not sure if taking down of the article and an apology will be sufficient or will the Govt or Hsien Loong continues to sue him for defamation.

8 hour paying job

In general, the pay for an employee or office bearer is computed based on his contribution for an 8 hour day or 44 hour week making up to a month. An employer can expect an employee to be at work for 8 hours daily or its equivalent. Some employees may moonlight, take on a second job elsewhere but on his own time, and do not infringe on the 8 hours of work time committed to his employer. In such instances, all is fair and the employer may not want to interfere with the employee’s other preoccupation as long as it does not affect his work.

An employee that takes on two jobs, with two full pay during his normal working time is actually doubling his pay by working 4 hours for each job daily. If he takes on 4 jobs, his working hours per job is only 2 hours daily and his pay, assuming the same for each job, will be quadrupled.

Imagine someone having 8 or 10 jobs over the same 8 hours working day, his contribution to the organization is 1hr or less per day for each job. And he is being paid fully for 8 or 10 jobs. These are simply wonder men and wonder women.

Readership of mysingaporenews.blogspot.com

After 8 years of blogging, mysingaporenews has become a staple diet for many Sinkie bloggers and those hungry for alternative viewpoints. The readership has spread far and wide among the English speaking world. Other than Singapore, the United States, United Kingdom, Norway, Malaysia, Australia, Germany, Russia, Canada and Hongkong constantly registered high readership. Viewers also came from Taiwan, Sweden, Poland, Ukriane, China and India and occasionally from some other countries as well.

Today the blog has a pageview of 1,457,524. The daily pageview has also risen from an average of 3,000 to about 4,500. A total of 6,780 articles have so far been published with at least an article a day.

Mysingaporenews is quite an international publication in its own way. Its articles have been reposted in other social media aggregators like Temasek Review Emeritus, Singapore Daily and Singapore Alternative News, to name a few.

Keep up the good effort guys and gals.