The real test of a Sinkie

There is no need to ask any high brow question about what is a Sinkie. There is no need to know about shared values, culture, experience growing up and all the craps of what not, can speak the language or know the history of the island. The real test comes when there is a crisis and a letter or a public announcement that all adults must register at specified centres for service to the country. This is not necessarily restricted to NSmen. Every Sinkie will answer the call, will go to the reporting centres to sign up. There will be no question ask, no second thoughts. Cause they know that they are Sinkies and this is their country and this is what they have to do.

When a Sinkie has to question himself if he has to sign up, if he wants to sign up, or should he take the next flight out, nationhood has failed. It may have already. How to expect foreigners or new citizens, don’t bother about PRs, to report to the centres when many don’t even want to do NS? A Sinkie is a Sinkie by nature, it is in him or her to serve the country when needed. No erat erat, no reasoning on whether it is good or bad, or what is there for me, they will answer the call of the country.

At least I know that the older generations did just that, before NS came into effect. Being a citizen is a part of the psyche of a citizen, something like falling in love, no need any reasons or justification. I wonder how many of the new citizens, forget about the PRs, will react when there is a crisis and a general mobilization.

Quote by Joey, a blogger in TRE

This is a quote by a blogger in TRE to my article on How much GIC and Temasek have contributed to the public coffer. And I take liberty to modify it a little. This is the original comment, ‘People working harder and harder for lesser and lesser to feed an elite group which is getting fatter and fatter.’

This is my extended version…People working harder and harder for lesser and lesser to buy smaller and smaller flats at higher and higher prices and the elite getting richer and fatter.

How to weaken the Sinkie core?

This is a simple question with many simple solutions. But there is a catch. When one is talking about the core, it reminds me of biology lessons when the core of a cell is the tiny nucleus. That is the core, and the core is meant to be very small though a very important critical mass. Is this the population core that the Govt is talking about, a smaller core is still acceptable, the smaller the stronger, or strengthening by making it smaller?

In conventional logic, to strengthen the population core, it must be increasing the numbers that are making the core. A 70% Sinkie core is definitely a stronger core than a 60% or 50% core. No craps about quality replacing quantity and a core of 30% of super talents is better than a 70% core of the masses. Theoretically this is good on papers but rubbish in reality. No country can have a population of super talents and no average or below average citizens unless the latter are all culled in a screening process, or expelled.

Weakening the Sinkie core is so easily done, by reducing their numbers or percentage in the population. Another way is to dilute them with foreigners as new citizens to hide the truth, that there are now more Sinkies but not really Sinkies as a Sinkie would know.

There are many ways to get rid of Sinkies. Forcing them to emigrate, some left because they find themselves no longer competitive vis a vis foreigners, under pressure by the system, disadvantaged. How about a policy that invites foreign talents to replace local talents? Sounds logical, clinical, practical, functional but totally devoid of the intangibles of country and citizens, of a social contract between govt and its people with share values and a common bond and destiny. It is all so numerical, so calculative and economic. Man is not just an economic animal. A country is not an economic unit.

Nothing can be worst than to replace local talents with fake talents or half baked talents. And that is not strengthening the core but eroding the core, undermining the Sinkie core. It is so easy to weaken the Sinkie core.

North Korean bomb making East Asia a safer place

Contrary to all the hue and cry about the latest detonation of a nuclear bomb by North Korea, this act and the nuclear capability of the North Koreans have in many ways helped to stabilise the East Asia region from going into war. Japan and South Korea will now have more reasons not to provoke the North Koreans or threaten military actions every other day. The consequences of a hostile act by any of these two countries could be devastating. There are now more reasons to want to be nice to the North Koreans and develop more lasting and peaceful economic and diplomatic relations instead of making enemies.

The bigger threat of war in the region, the evil Empire in the US too will have to take cognizance of the North Korean’s ability to deliver the black eye. The Americans cannot afford a nuclear bomb on any of its major cities. Any preventive strike, any hostile act of aggression, any premeditated invasion, threat or provocation, or war games, will have to be very carefully calibrated and restrained. The cowboy’s shoot first talk later cannot work anymore as the price to be extracted by the North Koreans is unacceptable.

And no, the North Koreans, like any nuclear power, will not be trigger happy to fire a nuclear missile at any country any moment. Such an act is assured self destruction of North Korea. The American nuclear arsenal is formidable and unchallenged and cannot be challenged. The nuclear capability is an insurance certificate the North Koreans have bought for themselves against any cowboy president in the US that thinks he could strike with impunity. The North Koreans have secured their country from foreign attacks.

The current spate of fist waving and table thumping are likely to subside and reasons and cool heads will take over. The war rhetoric and war games the Americans and South Koreans conduct regularly near the North Korean’s border would have to be toned down for good measures. Any military intervention for a regime change in North Korea is now out of question. When the bully does not have overwhelming superiority to hit out at a weaker enemy that cannot hit back, the bully would have to talk less aggressively from now on.

The North Koreans have bought peace and avoided the fate of an Iraq or Libya. It is now the turn of the Iranians to do the same to protect themselves against an invasion led by the evil Empire and its proxies. Only then would Iran be safe from the evil Empire and Israel. No country would want to start a war with a nuclear power. For they cannot win and should it come close, the nuclear power will just unleash its nuclear might to end it all.

Strange but it is the hard truth. The world is a safer place with the acquisition of nuclear power by small nations to protect themselves against aggressive and belligerent evil Empires and their proxies that believe in might is right.

How much weight to carry around?

Do you want to walk around with 60kg, 100kg or 150 kg as your body weight? Between 60 to 100kg I think many could still feel quite comfortable to move around with their daily life routines. Beyond that, to carry more than a 100kg of body mass, getting around is not going to be easy and there are many other negative side effects. The first part is to keep and maintain that weight, it is going to be very costly in the consumption of food and medical services/products. Even the whole wardrobe got to be changed, as well as the furniture.

On the lighter side of 100kg, living is that much easier, and that much cheaper. One does not need to eat a pail of rice and all the meat and vegetables to go with, maybe a bit obese but not too heavy on the knees and the feet and the heart. There is no need to eat like a glutton, wasting so much food that is totally unnecessary. The intake of a 150kg is going to be more than twice that of a 60kg, and more of everything.

This is a very simple analogy of what a population of 5m, 6m and 7m is going to be like. If we can get along fine with 5m, why pushing for 6m or more? Can we live with 5m and remain healthy? The Govt’s view is that we are hitting a crisis of a life time if we don’t go the 7m way. The reasons given were not convincing and never look like anything of a crisis. There will be major adjustments that needed to be made. The adjustments are much easier at the current level than when it balloons to 7m. It will then be a 7m kind of problem.

There is often the call to be mean and lean and fighting fit. 7m is not going to be fighting fit but going to slow down everything as the cost to sustain a 7m population is going to be very much more difficult and the returns will be marginal. The fact that the GDP will only grow by 2 – 2.5% for a 100k increase of heads annually just does not make reasonable sense. Why are the social and other costs and consequences not spelt out for the people? So far everyone has been told of the good things but no one is telling the bad part.

We all know what it is like of a 150kg body. The similarities need no imaginations.

Japan, the first of 21 Demands in the 21st Century

Japan is back to its mischief once again like it did to colonise Korea, Manchuria and China and eventually the whole of Southeast Asia. During its imperialist days, it repeated fabricated acts and incidents in China and blamed it on the weak Qing Govt and later the ROC. And after creating every incident it will demand apologies, compensation and special concessions from China. It kept on bullying China and eventually invaded China in an attempt to colonise the country.

Japan has started to create incidents to provoke China by first making a fictitious buying out of the Diaoyu Islands which it snatched from China in the late 19^th Century. This has forced the Chinese hands to exert their rights over the islands. The Japanese escalated the tension by scrambling fighter aircrafts and naval crafts to intercept Chinese surveillance planes and ships. The latest tension is the accusation that a Chinese frigate locked radar onto a Japanese destroyer. This is like the Tonkin Incident when the Americans accused the Vietnamese for ramming their patrol boats against an American warship.

And the haughty and arrogant Japanese PM Abe is making his demand that China apologise for the act. This is going to remind the Chinese of the 21 Demands Japan made on China to control China and seized Chinese territories. Many Chinese are going to be riled by this demand and will react in a hostile manner and raising the temperature in the island dispute. Japan is provoking China to defend itself and to accuse China of acting aggressively. This is likely to be part of an American Japanese plot to show to the Southeast Asian nations that China is indeed an aggressive big power.

What can China do? China cannot run away from this fight. It has to take the Japanese and the Americans on or it would have endless troubles and even losing Diaoyu Islands for good. China must demand that Japan withdraw all its ships from Diaoyu Islands or face the consequence of war. This is the new bottom line.

How much have GIC and Temasek contributed…

How much have GIC and Temasek contributed to the national coffer annually? The combined asset managed by these two SWFs could be near a trillion. One used to claim a return of 17% annually but lately the numbers seemed to be more down to earth, something like 5%. Correct me if I am wrong on this as I am recalling it from some faded memories.

At 5% interest for a sum of $1 trillion it will work out to $50b annually. It the sum managed is $600b, the profit is some $30b annually. DBS Bank’s profit is about $3b lately and used to be between $1b to $2b. The two funds are equivalent to 15 to 25 DBS Banks in terms of profit. In a more general term, the amount could be the profits of a whole industrial estate like Jurong. It is big money and can make the budget that much easier on the Govt.

With this kind of profits, the contribution to the national coffer must be quite substantial and is a major source of national income. How have these returns benefited the people, in what ways, how much, not many people really know. It would be nice for the Govt to tell the people how great the contributions were from these two very profitable organizations and how the citizens have greatly benefited from them. Would there be some numbers coming out soon?

What is Singapore’s GDP now? $300b or $400b? The White Paper is planning for a GDP growth of around 2% or 2.5%. At 2% growth rate, the GDP should increase by $6b or $8b using the $300b as base. And this is what the White Paper seeks to achieve with the import of nearly a 100,000 immigrants annually over the next 17 years. This is really pathetic for the added social and economic costs of housing an additional 1.6m people in the island.

Compare the profits that could be generated by GIC and Temasek combined? With a lower average of $30b in annual profits, do we really need to import 1.6m people just for a token $6b to 8b increase in our GDP and to live with the consequences of a highly densely populated city? If the two SWFs could increase their profits by 10%, they could do what the import of 1.6m people could do. That would be neat isn’t it?

Now I have a better proposal than the White Paper and the WP’s paper. No need to increase the population at all. Just work on the productivity of the two SWFs and to raise their annual profits and there is no need to live in a congested concrete jungle with everything shrinking except the population.

Lim Wee Kiat prefers suicide to euthanasia

“The feedback I received from my friends was that the alternative plans would kill the economy and this is euthanasia for Singapore. Between suicide for PAP versus euthanasia for the country… my choice is clear, I support the White Paper.” Said Lim Wee Kiat.

This is the first time that a PAP MP spoke honestly about what he thought of the White Paper. He knew that it was political suicide. This is one thing that the people will deal to the PAP comes 2016. What is of greater concern is whether the White Paper would also lead the country into a suicidal path. Many think so except the 77 and are speaking out to stop this self destruction down the road. The fact that the country has come to this juncture where the PAP admitted is a crisis of a life time and going along with the White Paper, a road of no return, speaks for the quality of the Govt to lead the country to a safe landing. Sinkies are now offered an option to jump from a frying pan into the deep blue sea.

Why not give the WP’s proposal a chance as they have not contributed to this crisis that needs another no choice do will die and don’t do will also die proposition of the PAP? The PAP may try to run down the WP proposal or any proposal from anyone, and to call it euthanasia. But that is PAP’s view of things and the WP did not think so and neither do the people. On record, every policy or decision by the PAP is a near perfect solution as claimed, a most well thought out solution, carefully calibrated, but still ended up with this crisis of a life time. It is also a historical fact that none, nothing from the opposition will ever be deemed as workable. Thank God that this is the case and the WP can sleep well that they did not contribute anything to the current crisis and needs another crisis loaded White Paper that is, as expected, touted as the only solution for the day.

Could the current crisis be avoided if the PAP had borrowed some ideas from the opposition, listen a little and not to adopt a ‘knows all’ and infallible attitude? The PAP deserves the full credit of what is happening today and the crisis that it has brought to the people. They have adopted the deaf frog attitude to do what it thought were best that lands the country into the current state of affair.

Without the Whip and without any regards to party loyalty, how many of the 77 would vote against this White Paper? When Hsien Loong shouts charge, how many will be charging with him and how many will just stay put and watch him charging ahead? Hsien Loong can be comforted by having the ministers running beside him, and of course Lim Wee Kiat and a few others.

The GE may come much sooner than 2016. This White Paper could have caused a serious rift within the PAP and a break could come into the open at the earliest opportune time. Surely not every PAP MP is agreeable to this suicidal path. In the last breakout the breakaway camp formed the Barisan Socialis, But history was not on their side and PAP came up tops. Barisan Socialis is history. The impending break could turn the table and the PAP could be on the losing end. All it needs is 37 PAP MPs to walk away to form a coalition with the WP, they could form a majority and the next Govt. This would force the PAP to call for a GE prematurely.

Don’t say not possible.

Who is qualified to comment on national policies?

‘According to the snapshot which TR Emeritus (TRE) received from a regular TRE reader, a Facebook user calling himself “Zhi Hao” has opined that only those who have studied economics, law, sociology, history, anthropology, public administration, public policy, national politics, international relations, comparative politics, psychology, political organization and political theory are qualified to comment on “policy the government came out with”.’ This is an extract of an article posted in TRE.

I am posting this article in jest. If we agree with this Zhi Hao, doctors and engineers, architects, among those excluded from his list should not be commenting on govt policies and national issues. But can doctors, engineers and architects be politicians and sit in Parliament talking politics and making decisions on national issues? : ) Taxi drivers and the Ah Pehs and Ah Mahs in kopitiams sure not qualify to talk politics. And all those who never make it to universities cannot also.

This is definitely from a young man. It is good to be young and say what you like when you are young and when people know you are young. The young will grow up one day.

Weekend is good for such snippets. Sinkies shall enjoy their blessings while it lasts.

Happy Lunar New Year to everyone

祝大家新年快乐

These are two of my rar arts from the Bloodline Series. Both are untitled. Maybe I shall call them Chinese New Year Celebration I and II.

PM Lee: We are all in this together

The Parliament has passed the White Paper for 6.9m population in 2030 with all 77 PAP MPs voting yea. And Hsien Loong proudly said, 'We are all in this together.' Do the people have a say or a choice not to be part of this madness?

I think Hsien Loong forgot to complete his sentence, 'We are all in this together, all 77 of us.' Did he know that the opposition MPs and the NMPs +NCMPs are not in this together? Did he know that the majority of the citizens are not in this together with his 77 MPs? According to the mini poll conducted in this blog, 97% were not together with him. And this can be confirmed by the number of people that have indicated that they will be attending the protest rally on 16 Feb at Hong Lim Park.

The attendance in this rally is probably one of the most important event in the history of this island. The cramming of additional 2m people into the island in the last 10 years went on sneakily without the consent of the people. The influx of foreigners were allowed in by the Govt and causing a lot of hardship, dislocation and disruption on the lives of the citizens. High cost of living, high property prices, high COEs, congestion, competition for space and services and straining of the infrastructure, transport systems and facilities, are getting on the nerves of the people. The patience of an otherwise very kiasu, kiasi and kiachenghu people has reached a BTH state, beh tahan liao.

And Hsien Loong said 'We are all in this together.' Really? This statement is going to rile more angry protestors. We are all NOT in this together. Wait for the voices of the people at the protest rally to be heard.

Gilbert Goh, the organiser of the protest is overwhelmed. He thought it would be the usual 200 crowd. Now the feedback is not even 2000 but many times more. The news of a massive turnout has wetted the interests of the international media and all the big guys will be there to report on this event.

The Singapore Spring has finally arrived, prompted or initiated by courtesy of the Govt through the highly unpopular White Paper.

77 MPs voted in favour of the White Paper

The very unpopular White Paper on future population in the island was passed yesterday with 77 for, 11 nay and 1 abstained. At least two PAP MPs were not present, LKY and Inderjit Singh. PAP has 80 MPs in Parliament. 79 PAP MPs were counted, 77 +2. Who is missing? All opposition MPs and NMPs voted against except for the diplomatic Eugene Tan who chose to abstain. The house is divided with PAP against the others on this population issue.

It is clear that the only way for a PAP MP not to vote along party line is to be absent with valid excuses, like LKY and Inderjit. Those who are present in Parliament would have to vote accordingly no matter if they agree or disagree with the motion or even spoke against it. Is this enough to confirm that no PAP MP can be an independent MP, to vote according to his belief and conscience, or be his own man or woman, to take a stand against the party position?

The fate of this island having 6.9m population is sealed. We are going to get more foreigners into the country to maintain a strong Sinkie core. They are here for the good of Sinkies. ‘We are doing it for Singaporeans…’ I got goose pimples hearing these words spoken by politicians.

The attractiveness of Singapore as a production and business centre

Singapore is what it is today not just because of cheap labour. There are many factors that make Singapore a very attractive and business friendly country. Thanks to the Govt, we have a very pro business climate, good infrastructure, good govt rules and regulations, ease of doing business with negligible corruption, transparency, good labour, govt and business relations and a highly educated workforce. English is the common language for govt, business and social activities. The legal system is based on the British model that many developed countries are familiar with. There is hardly any restriction on the transfer of money, ease of transport and communication system, good international connectivity and a very safe and clean and liveable environment. It is so easy to just move in and live in this city. The tax rate is about the lowest in the world.

With so many advantages, even the high cost of living is not too much an issue. We have full employment. There is really no need to create more employment unless the Govt is thinking of increasing the population/workforce which means more jobs are needed. If the population is more or less capped at the present level, even with some leaving, the employment situation is unlikely to be seriously affected. Any company that leaves will likely to be replaced quickly by more productive and higher value added companies. 

The Govt could use this opportunity to restructure the economy, allow the less productive and labour intensive companies to leave. Those that need cheap labour and could not live without them can also leave. Those companies that think they could operate in this city will still come. With our highly educated workforce, the high value added companies would not have problem fitting in to benefit from all the first class facilities and advantages this country is providing. The country should keep upgrading, keep the population at the current level without straining on the infrastructure and resources, and raising the income level of the workforce at the same time.

There is no need to keep relying on cheap labour industries that are not paying well. That is an area that the country has moved away from and should not return to. The jobs and pay they are creating are worthless numbers that we can do without. Whatever residual companies, let them be, and if they are not competitive, let them move to neigbouring countries to tap on their cheaper workforce and infrastructure if they find it difficult to get cheap labour. 

We need to attract good quality companies with high paying jobs for our graduates from the universities and tertiary institutions. Otherwise these graduates will be competing for lower and cheaper jobs with cheaper PMETs with lower quality papers and qualifications. We have world class universities churning out quality graduates not to be cheap labour.

By keeping the population at this level, many of the land and facilities can be improved without straining them and without incurring huge infrastructure development cost. The large reclamation of land and housing may not be necessary or less will be needed. This is also in a way a chicken and egg situation, one feeding on the other.

Singapore is a very attractive place to live and do business without being cheap. We don’t have to sell this country as cheap and good. We are good and very good. Many rich and famous would want to be here and live here. Let’s throw away the mantra of CBF. Lets be expensive and good and high paying. We are already expensive in many ways and the businesses are still coming. We can be selective, not grabbing the cheap and less productive ones. Does this argument make sense?

What do you think?

Hong Lim Park Protest

I just like to have a feel on how many people may be attending the Hong Lim Park Protest on the White Paper. The rally is on Sat 16 Feb 13 at 4.30 pm. The Poll is on the right.

And also click the advertisement for my breakfast. Thank you.

Redbean

What makes a citizen Singaporean?

This has never been an issue, but it is now. The amount of privileges and public money given to new citizens as subsidies and national bonuses, the priority in housing when some true blue Sinkies are not even allowed to buy, is becoming a big pain in the neck for the real citizens of the country they built and they sacrificed for. What the fuck is happening to my country? Why are citizens, the original citizens being treated as second class citizens, being disadvantaged by new citizens and even PRs and foreigners? Does the Govt know this, or does the Govt know that it is the cause of all these unfair treatments against its very own citizens it is supposed to look after?

The facetious remarks made by some MPs and Tan Chuan Jin are rude and offensive to Singaporeans, I mean the true blue Singaporeans. The examples raised of Amy Khor, Chen Show Mao and some ministers were selective examples that evade the angst and anger of the people. Don’t evade the main issue, the real pain the people are feeling. It is the new citizens that the people are fed up with when they are given so many privileges at the expense of the true blue Singaporeans.

You are not a citizen like one of us if you don’t serve NS when you could. You are not a citizen when you evade NS. Don’t come up with craps that you are saving babies and helping the economies by working in your profession. NS is the rite of passage to citizenship for male citizens. NS is the badge of honour, the common path that all male citizens will have to take as their contribution to nationhood. Do not degrade and abuse NS as something else when you have not donned the uniform, to train, to defend and to be maimed or die for this country.

All new citizens, using an arbitrary figure of 5 or 10 years, must not receive the same subsidies and handouts as true blue Singaporeans. All male citizens that are eligible to do NS but did not is not deserving to be a citizen and must not be allowed to hold senior positions in public office, especially to be seated in Parliament.

Our little island is now flooded with millions of new citizens and the number is going up. If we do not make a difference between the new citizens and true blue citizens, we will be short changing ourselves, selling our rights away.

White Paper – Don’t listen to snake oil salesmen

The debate on the 6.9m population is getting heated up in Parliament. The position of the PAP is that without the more than 1m foreigners coming into the workforce, the city will sink and Sinkies will really be sinking. Our reputation will be impaired, MNCs threatening to pull out, hundreds of thousands of jobs lost, standard of living will go down, and they forgot to add that our women folks will all become maids in foreign countries. What else is new? Crying wolf to little children?

97% of Sinkies have said no to this outrageous scheme of turning our country into a foreigners hub. Are the 97% population so stupid and the handful of snake oil salesmen genius, the white knights that are here to save the people and country? I have written a piece about the restructuring of our economy in the early days when many of these wise men were still playing golies or flying kites. Didn’t they know that we have gone through a very critical phase of skills upgrading to high value added jobs to raise the income of our workers? When has this country turned into another cheap labour joint?

Restructuring the economy…if you can remember

Many seniors would remember how Jurong Industrial Town started. It was primary industries, some heavy industries and many were labour intensive industries. When we started to industrialise, labour intensive industries were the only thing available even if the pay was low. There were plentiful of not well educated workers available and needed jobs. We were competing for investments by being cheap and good.

This went on for a decade or two before China opened up. Our immediate neighbours too were encouraging low cost industries to locate there. The writing was on the wall. We could not compete based on cheap labour. Productivity was the key to lift the economy and industries to the next level. The Govt consciously allowed, or no choice, when many labour intensive garment and electronics companies uprooted to cheaper sources of labour. We have the National Productivity Board, famously known as NPB, to boost productivity.

The Govt went on to attract high value added industries here. We promote ourselves as a hub for knowledge based industries. Highly educated and high quality workers and higher pay. We have to compete at a different level to survive. No more cheap labour!

Some years ago the NPB’s name was changed to Spring. I am wondering what the hell that word meant. It cannot be an Arab Spring or Singapore Spring. But what was clear, Productivity is no longer the key word. And the productivity of the industries and economies actually got buried and forgotten. Productivity has gone to sleep. Whatever GDP growth there was is now directly related to the number of workers, skilled, unskilled and low skilled, that are brought into the country. There is nothing to do with productivity but low cost.

Since when have we become a low cost production centre and cheap labour joint and trying to compete with our neighbours and giants like China, India and Indonesia, and even Malaysia? And why are there so many low cost industries here today and now trying to blackmail the Govt not to restrict the inflow of cheap labour? Why is the Govt not doing the same as in the early 80s, to shift out the labour intensive and cheap labour industries? Or how did so many of these industries creep into this knowledge based economy in the first place?

Would the Govt got weak knees and beg the MNCs to stay put? Please don’t go, we will obey and let you have whatever you want. We will import more cheap labour?

What is happening?

When we were all Sinkies

There was a time when we were all Sinkies, some like to call themselves Singaporeans. Every Sinkie was equal in many ways. The males got thrown into the back of 3 tonners and taken to some God forsaken place they had never been in their lives, put on some green uniforms and went charging up Pengkang Hill, with gusto, sleeping in grave yards and in the mud, under rain or shine. There were complaints of tough training and all, $90 allowance and meals that were churned out by cooks that barely knew how to boil water. They were lucky when the Inche in the cook house did the real cooking to have something nicer to fill their stomach. But they went home and slept well. They were later discharged after completing their NS, ROD and so happy.

They accepted their duties to serve the country, to die for the country. Many unfortunate parents did not see their sons any more. They gave up their lives for the country while training to defend the country. Some came back unrecognizable, with parts of the body missing. And many continue to serve the country as reservists. There were still complaints, but all took them in their stride. They were NS men, the country and the people depended on them should the day come for them to be at the front line.

Those were the days when everyone was a citizen, and everyone was equal.

Today they are still serving NS but less equal than foreigners that are called FTs and PRs, or new citizens. While they are slogging in the fields, in the jungles, in some foreign lands, the foreigners are taking over their jobs, some even taking over their wives and girlfriends or girls that could have been their wives. Foreigners who took up citizenships need not serve NS but got all the perks and handouts like the NSmen and the native citizens. And foreigners could even be ahead of the queue for public housing. And many of these shitty NSmen are not even eligible to buy a public housing flat. And they are to protect the country, the new citizens and the PRs and what not.

Why are the NSmen not complaining, or why are they complaining? Why are they feeling disillusioned or cheated, short changed, or being less equal in their country compare to new citizens and PRs? Why are the NSmen angry?

Why like that?

An ageing population is a triumph of development.

‘We should stop seeing elderly Singaporeans as just a drain on our economy and as a hindrance to our goal to keep Singapore dynamic. Older Singaporeans have much to offer us, and not all of it can be measured in economic terms.

In fact, our elderly Singaporeans are essential to maintaining a Singapore core. Older Singaporeans are custodians of culture and, as some have suggested, can be employed in schools to teach subjects such as social studies and national education, or encouraged to volunteer to do so. This is also a way of encouraging cross-generational sharing and learning, particularly in a society where family trends are shifting and there may be less opportunities for inter-generational sharing within the family.’….

I like this part of Chen Show Mao’s paper. The senior citizens are not a waste or rubbish waiting to be thrown away. Many are a store house of information and history. The accumulated experience in them is wisdom that cannot be found in the text books.

And with today’s medical advancement and the quality of life, many are very healthy and can go on till 70 or 80. I see myself going on to 70 without much stress. And many of the seniors are in such shape but thinking that their days are over, as society or govt has so fixed, and thus wasting their times in club houses or playing golf. Many can still be gainfully employed if they so choose.

The employment policies of the govt and private organizations, public and private institutions, should cater for this mindset change to welcome more seniors back to the work force. Many are financially sufficient and do not need abundance of money to work. A decent salary will be enough to keep them happy. By so doing, the labour cost could be lowered and more seniors would be independent instead of being a liability. And there is lesser need for foreigner to support a bigger ageing population when more are supporting themselves. When seniors are working till 70 or 80, they are economically active and contributing and supporting the economy as well. Isn’t that good?

There must be a serious conviction and commitment to restructure the workforce, to retain more people in the workforce for as long as possible. After all we have become an economic animal and working to death is our new mantra. Just look at the cleaners in the foodcourt will do. This, couple with the savings in their CPF or in their bank accounts or assets, the data on ageing population to be supported by a bigger and younger pool of workforce, particularly the PMETs, and that’s what our seniors will be as we move ahead, is thus misleading. There are many PMET jobs that are not directly related to ageing. The new seniors are knowledge based seniors. Many are armed with professional and tertiary degrees and wide ranging skills and knowledge. They are no longer the artisans or coolies of the past.

Think sinkie first and as the WP suggested, think of tapping the pool of the seniors and those females that can participate in the economy. Cut down on the one track mind of relying on foreigners. It is a drug, a bad habit. Kick the habit. Don’t be lazy, think harder.

Pro Sinkie or pro foreigner policies better

The WP proposal put up by Chen Show Mao came under immediate attack by the PAP bench. The WP’s proposal is basically to tap on the big pool of unemployed or underemployed Sinkies to the sum of 1.2m people. These people can go to waste, remain unemployed or underemployed but could be economically productive if they are returned to the workforce. What is so wrong with this? Why ignore them totally?

The PAP’s White Paper is about bringing in more foreigners, diluting the Sinkie element to about 50% by 2030. Between the two proposals, which one is more pro Sinkie and which is more pro foreigner?

Can the WP proposal work, fully, partially, it would mean more Sinkies in the workforce and lesser need to import more foreigners. Why can’t the PAP look into it to see if there are some merits and useful recommendations that can be incorporated into the bigger plan? Why must it be rejected lock, stock and barrel? NG!

Can the PAP proposal be moderated? Is it a no way out option that without the huge influx of foreigners, it cannot work? The foreigner content seems to be the core of the future workforce. And the foreigners are really here to improve the core of Sinkies by reducing the percentage of Sinkies in the country? I have a bit of problem trying to disentangle the logic or fallacy of the arguments.

The wayang in Parliament

The WP has stoically spoken against the White Paper but still conceded to 5.9m people. Several PAP MPs also spoken against the 6.9m population. Among the notables who were not in favour are Christopher De Souza, Arthur Fong and Seah Kian Peng who spoke out strongly about the population projection. Inderjit Singh also wanted the Govt to take a breather to solve the present cumulated problems before embarking on such an ambitious projection. There are more than 40 PAP MPs who are scheduled to speak on the subject.

This White Paper is a good test case to see how independent PAP MPs could be from party stand and whether they can be their own men or women, to speak and vote against party position. The proof is in the pudding. If they are only able to speak but still got to vote along party line, then in the future no PAP candidate should feel so free to declare he is an independent man and would stand on his beliefs, values and principles, even voting against the party if he feels strongly against an issue.

We have seen four PAP MPs so far, and may there be more to come, and the findings could be based on a larger sample size.