Aspiration of the new Sinkies

Our parents aspired to live in landed properties, or at least a private flat. If that is too much, a bigger HUDC or executive flats also can. And of course, the prized possession of a car to take the family out to ‘chiat hong’ or joy ride. That was the simple aspirations of what a better life was then. And they did not need to be a graduate, they did not need two incomes to be able to live that kind of lifestyle.

Many of these babyboomers have retired or semi retired. Many are very lucky to have a landed or private property, or a bigger HDB flats to fall back on, to downgrade and live on the spare cash as retirement fund. Many have gone the full circle of HDB flats, private properties and car ownership and back to a smaller HDB flat and no car but taking public transport. And some are happy with this formula.

What is the new aspiration of our well educated young? Many are graduates of the universities or polytechnics. And many are two income families. It seems that their aspiration is for a small HDB flat and no cars. Their only wish as far as transportation is concerned is for the public transport providers to provide a reliable service. Many have given up the idea of car ownership and ownership of private properties. A few of the more successful young people would still be able to do that. But the majority of the middle income families, with two incomes, will not be able to do so.

And not to forget, many of the babyboomer generation belonged to the socalled sandwiched class, supporting their parents and bringing up families, and still could afford larger homes and cars. The new young families are luckier with lesser of them having to support their parents who could look after themselves by downgrading and cashing out.

When this group of young people’s time comes for them to retire, not many would have the comfort of downgrading from their HDB flats, to cash out and live on that. Hopefully their CPF is still around and adequate to do that. You cannot be sure about this as the babyboomer generation also believed that their CPF savings would be enough for retirement. Many will not have the luxury of experiencing the HDB flat, private property and back to HDB cycle. Many will live a life without knowing what it means to owning a car. All they could afford would be very high tech bicycles.

Is this an aspiration worthy of a Swiss standard of living? Is this something to work a life time for? Let me try to figure out what kind of aspirations the maids and foreign workers would have? Some told me they will go home, buy a land to build their own house, maybe buy a car and set up a small business, all achievable if they work for maybe 6 to 10 years here. No need to spend a small fortune on a tertiary education as well.

But Sinkies must congratulate themselves for a better quality of life in the world’s most expensive city and stress free life for themselves and their children. Did I just say stress free?

Kopi level - Yellow

Meritocrazy in a decadent city state

They say a fish rots from the head. When that happens, the fish does not think anymore and soon the rot will spread through the entire fish. And because of a rotted brain, the stench of rot would not even be noticed. There is no sensory organ to detect the smell of a rotting fish.

The dearth of talents and skilled professionals in this prosperous city state does not stop at the banking and finance industry or the IT industry. It is pervasive and starting right from the top to the semi skilled worker’s level. The absence of intellect affects all levels of the citizenry that the city state is now a glittering shell of its former self. Every level of its people would have to be replaced as there is nothing good left in them, or have already been replaced.

Reading an article this morning in the ST on the hollowing of the academia is just too depressing. This is the seat of the intellect of the nation, the hotbed for the gestation of ideas and ideals by the best academic brains. The rot is just as pervasive but to some, is a good thing. Let me quote a few numbers. 18 out of 25 faculty members in the NUS Political Science department are foreigners, or only 7 are Singaporeans. At the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, 38 are locals (not sure how many are Singaporeans, but you can guess that it will be very small when they have to resort to use the term locals instead of Singaporeans) out of 82 faculty staff. In the Rajaratnam  School of International Studies, 12 are locals out of 29 faculty staff. At NTU’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, 21 of the 48 faculty are Singaporeans. Here they feel comfortable enough to say 21 are Singaporeans.

This sad state of affair is not missed by some of the Singaporean thinkers and academics. Some have raised their grievances to the ministers. Seah Kian Peng found this worrying and brought the matter up in parliament and ‘highlighted the fact that that fewer than half of the faculty in political science, communication and public policy – which he described as “some of the most important and context sensitive fields of endeavour in any country” – are Singaporeans.’ NMP Eugene Tan of SMU had raised the same issue six times in Parliament since 2002. Obviously nothing has been done or no action was taken, and the problem continues to grow. Is it a problem, or is it something desirable, planned by the establishment and so no action needed?

According to reporter Andrea Ong, the seed of this transformation or hollowing out in the academia seemed to have started in 1996 when, ‘then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong challenged the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University to build “the Boston of the East” and be dubbed the “Harvard and MIT of Asia”. The two universities could achieve this by drawing in “the best and brightest” from Asia and around the world, he said.’

Though Chok Tong did not ask the universities to bring lock, stock and barrel from Harvard and MIT, ie buying and bringing all the academic staff here, and replacing all the dull Sinkie students with the best and brightest in the world, the people who executed this ‘dream team’ apparently went ahead to replace the Sinkie academics and students with foreigners. Buying an international football team to compete in the world cup is an isolated fetish craze that would go away with maturity and with minimum negative impact on the country, maybe a few billion dollar lesser, but to replace the seat of learning and the academia with foreign faculty staff and students are simply shallow. But till today, with the problem growing and no concrete steps taken to reverse the trend, it seems that the lunatics have won and are having a field day to transform our universities into the Harvard and MIT and Sin City becoming the Boston of the East.

Those who are still left with a little grey matter are shaking their heads at this silliness but no one is going to do anything about it. We will have our own Harvard and MIT soon, and the faculty staff will be from the real Harvard and MIT, and the students would not be children of daft Sinkies but the brightest and the best from the whole world. We are succeeding, surely and steadily.

Where would the Sinkies go? How would the Sinkies fit in?

Kopi level - Yellow

Can Singapore retain its unique selling points?

What are the unique Singapore selling points that made it so successful and attractive as a city state? This is Hsien Loong’s reply to Malcolm Rifkind in Chatham House.

"It's a first world system in a very complicated and non-first-world part of the world. Things work, the country is stable, the society is cohesive, people are well-educated, the government is incorrupt and efficient, and we deliver on what we promise and we try to head in a consistent direction over a long period of time.

"So if you come to Singapore, and you want to do business, you can count on what we promise you, and what you see is what you get and that's not bad."

We all know that. But what contributed to the stable society and made everything works? The govt is incorrupt and efficient because of a very disciplined and well educated workforce. No rioting or burning police cars.  Would the Singapore workforce still be the same disciplined and well educated workforce as before when the 3^rd World foreigners are brought in to replace them? Would they keep everything working, support an incorrupt and efficient govt?

What do you think when the original Singaporeans are replaced and we have a new Singaporean population from the 3^rd World?

Kopi level - Yellow

Are we having a very dangerous govt?

 In an article on unemployment posted in TRE by a Dr Tommy Wong, titled ‘Hidden unemployment in Singapore’, it attracted this comment from a blogger.
 
• Pink Panty Loong - "Wussy Doormat LEEderSHIT!":
April 4, 2014 at 9:54 am (Quote)
Yes, just send the 175,000 EP holders back home and our older PMETs with good experiences should not have any problem getting employed! So if you tell me there isn’t a ethnic cleansing of Singaporeans by the PAP government for new foreigner-turn-citizen voters, than WHAT IS IT?! That is why I keep repeating and I’m going to repeat tirelessly that we have a very DANGEROUS government here! Please vote them out in the coming GE to save Singapore and ourselves!
 
Pink Panty Loong is talking about ethnic cleansing of Singaporeans and pointing the finger at the PAP govt….that we have a very DANGEROUS govt here. How many of you see the unemployment problem in the same light or disagree with Pink Panty Loong?

Is your life getting better?

Sure, definitely better. Swiss standard of living is nothing when one is earning millions every year. Swiss standard of living is nothing when one is living in a house worth tens of millions and owning a few more to rent out. Swiss standard of living is nothing when buying a Ferrari or Lamborghini costing more than a million is small change.
 
For those who cannot afford to send their children to university, cannot afford to have more children, cannot afford to pay medical bills, downgrading to smaller HDB flats, can only afford to buy smaller HDB flats, cannot afford a car, are your life getting better?
 
Talking Point on 2 Apr telecasted live on the topic of the middle class and whether their lives are getting better. My impression after listening to the panel and callers is that Sinkies do not deserve to be called Sinkies. They should be called daft Sinkies. The Hongkies, Taiwanese and PRC Chinese did not call Sinkies stupid for nothing. It is a well deserving title.
 
Now why do I say that? The views from the forum is all about adapting to your means and downgrading. I can accept that when one is an idiot, one should not aspire to anything more than 3 meals and a pair of shorts. But when one is talking about the middle class, the 50 to 60 percent sandwiched between the lower income and the rich, what kind of life or aspiration should they be expecting other than downgrading?
 
In the 70s and 80s, everyone was talking about upgrading, getting bigger flats and private properties if possible, and going for that super convenience called a car. And the people aspiring and attaining such level of comfort were not even the middle class but the workers, the taxi drivers, the supervisors, the technicians, the young graduates. Life was getting better for everyone, including those below the middle class.
 
Today, it is very normal for a young family to have at least a graduate, or both are graduates. They spent millions and a life time studying to get to that position. Is it too much, unreasonable, for them to aspire to live in a bigger HDB flat or condominium? Forget about private landed properties, these are way beyond their means today but not within the means of their lowly educated parents. Is it too much for them to aspire to own a small Japanese car to make living that much more convenient and pleasant, eating out once a week or a month?
 
What transpired in the forum is that daft Sinkies should be happy with public transport, if not even go on bicycles. Forget about small cars, cars are not necessary. When have daft Sinkies been fed with this kind of stupid ideas? And a small HDB flat should do, live within your means. Is that what daft Sinkies are contented after spending a third of their precious life pursuing tertiary education and spending a fortune on that to live in stupid small HDB flats and go around taking public transport? Is this what the future holds for the Sinkie middle class?
 
But the daft Sinkies that were airing their views found this acceptable, the type of life they feel reasonable and happy to be. Who said Sinkies are unhappy? Most of the views expressed by the daft Sinkies was that they were happy not owning a car. They did not want to know why the roads are so heavy with traffic and the prices of cars and COEs so high. They are very happy if public transport is satisfactory and they can live without a car.
 
This message of no need for a car has been successfully stuffed and buried in the daft Sinkie mind. They are all talking about downgrading and living within their means. I can accept that if they could not even make it to tertiary education and should not be asking for too much. Why would a minister find it difficult if she could not be earning a couple of millions a year to live a ‘decent’ lifestyle?
 
I must say the daft Sinkies are easily contented with life and are a very happy lot, living, adjusting and adapting with the quality of life without cars, without a decent job, smaller HDB flats and eating out lesser.
 
Is this what Sinkies are living for? No more ambition for a better life, no more aspiration that things can be better? Oh, the new aspiration, to own and ride a bicycle, and perhaps become his own boss, driving a taxi and with a few degrees to hang inside the taxi..

Kopi Level - Yellow

China must act against the Pinoys

The wreckage of a rusty WW2 ship sunk and rotting in the Chinese island is being used by the Pinoys and the USA to spike the Chinese and challenging their claims to the island. The wreck ship has been there since 1999 and is home to 9 Pinoy marines. They lived on provisions supplied regularly by the Pinoy fishing boats that played a game of hike and seek with the Chinese Coast Guards. The latest event happened a few days back with some reporters in the fishing boats to report on the event. And the Americans expectedly came out in support of the Pinoy ruse.
 
China may be thinking that it is a matter of time before the scrap metal of the wreck would be inhospitable and the Pinoys would have to swim back to Manila. This has taken 14 years and it is still there and causing so much embarrassment to the incompetent Chinese. It is time that they take action and remove the wreckage and the Pinoy soldiers in them from the island.
 
If China believes that the island belongs to China, it must assert its right of ownership and declared the Pinoys as trespassers, arrest them and put them in jail in Hainan. They should then send a bill to Manila to pay for the cost of the operation and to take their soldiers back. Failing to do so is not only a sign of weakness but an indirect admission that the island is disputed and China is not the owner yet.
 
There is no need to worry about the Americans and the Pinoys as they are expected to act and behave accordingly. And China can show the middle finger to them as well as the western media as all three are in cahoot to show China in a bad light. It is better to deal with the matter in a clinical manner, remove the rusty piece of shit and the illegal occupiers immediately to tell the Americans and Pinoys and the rest of the trouble makers that China would no longer tolerate their nonsense. China must be firm and resolute in maintaining and protecting its territorial sovereignity. There is no room for dilly dallying and to encourage the Pinoys to dance around like clowns in Chinese territories. 

Inaction on the part of China is bad.

Why no lunch break will not be lifted

With the news on FBI investigating HFT in all the major papers, more reports and comments are coming out on the unfair advantages HFT is giving to the computer traders. In a Bloomberg report, a columnist by the name of Lewis said,’ U.S. stock market is rigged by high-frequency traders who make tens of billions of dollars jumping in front of investors. Everyone who owns equities is victimized by the practices.’ Now would this ring a bell and wake people up a bit? Why is this not illegal, not a crime?
 
Aaron Smith of Pecora Capital added,’ We don’t want to be in the high-frequency space because then you’re in a technological foot race against the next guy, When they have a bigger, faster, stronger computer, you’re out of business. We’re not interested.’ This is how effective or destructive HFT is. And it is legal at the moment. The exchanges made it legal knowing that it is unfair trading. Can you believe it? When the big funds will also be driven out of business trading against HFT, what chance do the small traders have?
 
Now why would I say ‘no lunch break’ will not be lifted? In the same Bloomberg report a Javier Paz said this, ‘FX has ongoing liquidity throughout the day, no interruption in trading and fewer gaps in prices, which all allow for algorithmic trading to flourish.’ 

Now you know the real reason why remisiers are not going to have their lunch break back. It was never about increasing trading time to increase business and commission. It is all about computer trading, and no lunch break means no interruption and means fewer gaps in prices and means good for HFT and computer trading.
 
Now, are you wiser or still blur like sotong and be let around by people pulling your ears? The truth is out. Who is the deceiver?

Hsien Loong – If something is wrong….

‘PM Lee's answer to Sir Malcolm Rifkind's question of whether Singapore's incorrupt system was reversible:
 
"I think it is reversible but I think these values and this system is fairly well entrenched. The expectations from the public are there, so if something is not quite right you can be sure that somebody will sound the alarm. And in this day and age, there is no possibility of these things - something wrong being kept secret for very long. Within the system there are mechanisms to make sure that if something is suspicious, it is investigated, and if something indeed is wrong, then consequences will have to follow.’
 
How many of you agree with what Hsien Loong said above? His version is that the daft Sinkies will whistleblow, will kpkb when something is not right. He also assumed that when the alarm is sound, the govt will be notified and will put it right.
 
In reality there are a few normal scenarios. One, the people can kpkb but the deaf frogs will not listen. Two, the right people will not kpkb as they cannot see anything wrong. So there is no need to sound the alarm.
 
‘And in this day and age, there is no possibility of these things - something wrong being kept secret for very long.’ Now now, how many things have gone wrong and have been kept secret for very long and will be kept secret for as long as the party is in power? 

No? No such things? Do you agree?

Kopi Level - Green

MH370 – Not a shred of evidence

More than 3 weeks have passed and a massive search exercise involving many nations is in full swing in the southern Indian Ocean. Everyone has been told that the aircraft ended or crashed there. Everyone is convinced that that is the truth. No one seems to be questioning whether this could be a disinformation or a diversion.
 
Where is the evidence to say that MH370 crashed there? Can anyone bring out a piece of solid evidence to say that the aircraft crashed into the southern Indian Ocean? Solid evidence is solid evidence, not guess work, not extrapolation, not theories, not beliefs. The extrapolation by Immarsat using Doppler Theory is, ahem, just extrapolation and could be furthest from the truth.
 
There is absolutely no evidence to prove that the aircraft ended in the Indian Ocean though a few Prime Minister are trying to tell the world they know it is there.
You tell me what is going on? Every clue and lead led to a big blank. Are the searchers working with their heads? Did they know that the Americans are taking their own sweet time as if they know that it is all a big fake show, that there is nothing there?
 
Not sure whether to laugh or to cry.

Putting on the red lens on climate change

Last night’s SG+ on climate change was all about all the great things Red Dot has done on climate change and saving mother earth. Everything is so positive, green buildings, water conservation, new water, earth hour, cutting down on wasteful consumption, reducing car population, reducing carbon emission, encourage walking or cycling, saving waste papers, plastics etc etc. Everyone in the panel of discussion was patting himself and feeling so good that as a first world country we were setting an excellent example for the less developed countries to follow.

I was just a bit puzzled by some of the things that we are doing like scrapping cars in 10 years or less when they can be used for 20 or 30 years. Is this wasteful or saving resources? What about pulling down structurally sound buildings that could last another 50 to 100 years just to rebuild even higher and higher buildings? Are these acts helping to reduce consumption of energy and resources and material or wasting them?

What about increasing the population from 3m to 5.4m and now proceeding to 6.9m? Is the increasing population going to increase consumption of energy and resources or the other way?

On the whole I think any one of these three items, premature scrapping of good road worthy cars, pulling down of structural sound buildings or population increases could outdo all the things mentioned in para one added together to reduce consumption of resources but conversely has more adverse effects on climate change in bigger ways.

What is the point of saving a glass of water but turning the aircon on the whole night? Think how much airconditioning is needed to cool the funny gardens for plants that would grow wild in their natural habitats? Is the Red Dot really a good example in energy saving or reducing consumption of resources to help in slowing down climate change? How much more energy and resources would need to be consumed for every million people added into the island, the food, energy, utilities, their toys, the leisure and casual consumption for them to live and use?

Can we remove the red lens and look at the self perpetuating myths and fallacies we created to make us look good and feel good? Our greed for more people is so destructive that we didn’t even know or were aware of it. We are so blind to our wrongs and so smug in blowing our own trumpets. We are helping in the worse way to destroy mother earth by destroying our little island first.

Singapore students top the world in PISA

In a test conducted by Programme for International Students Assessment in 2012, Singapore students, and I repeat, Singapore students, beat the rest of the world to come up tops, not only in rote learning but also in creative thinking. Amazing isn’t it? 

After a decade of wearing the no talent tag, when they are deemed to be more stupid and useless than fake talents from the 3rd World, our students are world beaters. And those 3rd World countries where we drew our talents from were not even mentioned or appeared in the top rankings. Among those rated closer to Singapore are South Korea, Japan, Macau, HongKong, Shanghai, Taiwan, Canada, Australia and Finland. No wonder we are seeing the rise of Asia.
 
These students that topped the PISA test are likely to be strait A students for their O and A level examinations. And they are likely to be admitted to local universities and will also do very well. They will also be able to find employments quite easily and will be quickly promoted to middle management in the future.
 
But they will not be good enough to be at top management level. They will mostly be replaced by the fake talents from the 3rd World that they beat with hands down. Then they will add to the statistics of the unemployed or underemployed PMEs. And many will end up as their own bosses, driving taxis to pick up the foreign fake talents and hoping for some tips if they are lucky. If they are unlucky they will end up as punching bags to these foreign talents for their amusements.
 
Some of these who refused to accept their fate will try desperately to submit their resumes to the employment agencies operated by foreigners but would be told that they lacked the skill sets and experience needed for their clients. These foreign employment agencies would prefer to recruit their talents or fake talents from the 3rd World to fill up positions in this world class city.
 
One caveat, this is likely to be the picture if conditions remain like what it is now. Things may change in 10 or 20 years when all the free trade agreements are signed and foreigners flooded this city looking for jobs and our world beaters would count themselves lucky if they could even find employment in the first place.
 
Andreas Schleicher, Special Adviser to the OECD Secretary General on Education Policy and Deputy Director for Education and Skills has this to say, ‘It shows that today’s 15 year olds in Singapore are quick learners, highly inquisitive, able to solve unstructured problems in unfamiliar contexts and highly skilled in generating new insights by observing, exploring and interacting with complex situations.’ What he meant is that our students are not blind muggers but really talented and creative. But would those asses listen to him? I bet not. The asses will still be singing praise for foreign talents and recruiting fake talents and bring them in plane loads to replace these local talents in top jobs, middle jobs and eventually all jobs except taxi drivers.
 
Can these bright Singapore students look forward to a great career in the future? What do you think?

Kopi Level - Green

High-Frequency Traders Ripping Off Investors

High-Frequency Traders Ripping Off Investors, Lewis Says
2014-03-31 00:09:27.261 GMT


By Nick Baker and Sam Mamudi
March 30 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. stock market is a rigged
game where high-frequency traders with advanced computers make
tens of billions of dollars by jumping in front of investors,
according to author Michael Lewis, who spent the past year
researching the topic for his new book “Flash Boys.”

While speed traders’ strategies, developed over the past
decade with help from exchanges, are legal, “it’s just nuts”
that they’re allowed, Lewis said during an interview televised
today on CBS Corp.’s “60 Minutes.” The tactics are too
complicated for individual investors to understand, he said.

“The United States stock market, the most iconic market in
global capitalism, is rigged,” Lewis, whose books “Liar’s
Poker” and “The Big Short” highlighted Wall Street excesses,
said during the interview. The new book comes out tomorrow.
“It’s crazy that it’s legal for some people to get advance news
on prices and what investors are doing,” he said.

Everyone who owns equities is victimized by the practices,
in which the fastest traders figure out which stocks investors
plan to buy, purchase them first and then sell them back at a
higher price, said Lewis, a columnist for Bloomberg View. To
show how lucrative the tactics are, Lewis said a technology firm
spent $300 million to build a line that would shave three
milliseconds off the time it takes to communicate between New
Jersey and Chicago, then leased it out to securities companies
for $10 million each…..
 
His latest target, high-frequency trading, comprises a
diverse set of software-driven strategies that have spread from
U.S. equity markets to most developed countries as computer
power grew and regulators tried to break the grip of centralized
exchanges….

There are no surprises why this rigging of the stock market could go on for so long as the lawmakers were mostly paid by the big boys to shut up and look the other way. But to write about front running by a few milliseconds to make profits is just skimming the surface of this devious criminal activity. It is the privy of market information on who is buying/selling what, the volume, price, the short positions etc etc that is ripping the innocent investors through the act of plugging their computers into the exchanges that is doing more damages than just high speed trading. They are not telling the host of advantages of having super computers attached to stock exchanges to make trading an almost sure win bet.
 
The criminals must be brought to justice, the stock exchanges sued and compensations be paid to the innocent investors who have lost their pants trading in the market. Anyone or govt bodies approving its practice are complicit to the crime.
 
Below is a Wall Street Journal report dated 1 Apr 14.
 
‘The Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched a wide-ranging investigation into high-speed trading with an eye on whether some firms are acting on fast-moving market information that isn’t available to other traders.
 
The investigation, launched about a year ago, involves a range of trading activities and is still in its early stages, according to a senior FBI official and an agency spokesman. Trading ahead of other investors based on information about orders that other investors can’t see could violate insider-trading laws, the spokesman said….’

China US relations – Different fears

The rise of China as a contender to challenge America supremacy and world hegemony is the biggest fear of the Americans. They have ruled the world since WW2 and could dictate to the world at will, invade countries, conduct wars, conduct regime change, blackmail and impose sanction on any country it chose to call enemies. The Americans said you cannot have nuclear weapons or WMD, that’s it. Refusal to obey will lead to war, sanctions or regime change or outright assassination of the country’s leaders.
 
The rise of China as a counter force to prevent America from doing all the above is not going to be accepted willingly by the Americans. The Americans would want to fly its military aircraft up and down China’s coast, sail its naval ships all over the seas of China. It also wants to fly its B52 bombers into China’s ADIZ at will. It also wants to be able to strike at Chinese embassies anywhere in the world at its own time and choosing. But with the rise of China, all these will have to stop sooner or later. With the rise of China, China too would want to fly its military aircraft along the American coasts, its naval ships in the eastern Pacific Oceans and the western Atlantic Ocean. And it would want to strike back at will should the Americans dare to do a Belgrade again. These are the fears of the American Empire.
 
The Chinese fear is all about what the USA will do to prevent its rise as a superpower peacefully. It fears that it will have to fight a war with the Americans and its allies along the way. It fears that the Americans will put obstacles on its path in all its activities across the world. The Chinese fear a premature full scale war with the Americans when it is not ready to return favour for favour with the Americans.
 
Across the world, many countries under the influence of the West also fear the rise of China. They fear China because they were told to, for centuries, by the western powers that China is a rogue and expansionist nation. They fear China because they refused to think who actually conquered and colonized them and dictating how they should conduct their relations and affairs. They fear China because they live under an illusion created by the west that China is a monster and the Americans are their savior. And they unconsciously choose to be under the control and dictate of the Americans rather than be free nations to choose their own destiny without being control by any superpowers. They did not know that the fear of China is an illusion created by the western powers to entrap them like fearing a shadow.
 
The Americans have a real fear of losing its pole position and the freedom to do as it pleases. China has a genuine fear that the Americans are trying in everyday to throw a spanner in its works or to start a nuclear war.
 
The rest of the world that claims to fear China has an irrational fear planted in their heads by the western powers. There are a few with self created fear of China when they made claims to Chinese territories as theirs. Other than those with competing claims, the fear of the rest of the world of China is simply foolishness. They do not fear the Americans as they have got used to being bullied and dictated by the Americans and this has become second nature and an accepted norm of living with the American Empire. They don’t mind the Americans spying on them and waiting to destabilize their countries when the Americans are unhappy with them.
 
Many countries in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and across Asia have been victims of American bullying for decades since WW2 and are seeing the enemy as it is, the real and not imaginary enemies planted in their heads.
 
There is a new beginning in the horizon when the world will be more equal with more superpowers emerging to balance the American Empire from doing as it pleases, for running roughshod over weaker countries at will.

Do not underestimate the stupidity of Sinkies

The founding generations who turned a fishing village and a swamp into a thriving modern city state were mostly uneducated or undereducated peasants and coolies. There were barely a handful of graduates then that made this miracle happened. So credit must be accorded to the real talents. After the success there was a sudden realisation by the real talented that the Sinkies were really daft and untalented and they could not understand how they could build this modern city with their poor genes and limitations. It is a deep mystery like the disappearance of MH370.

There was a real and urgent need to bring in the genuine talents from around the world. There were many real talents in the 3rd World slums who were really talented but did not have the opportunity to prove their worth to turn their slums into thriving metropolis. These were the real talents, hungry and impatient to prove themselves that should be quickly imported to replace the daft Sinkies. And the Sinkies accepted it all grudgingly knowing that these 3rd World talents were the really better than them even if they were fakes.

And the replacement exercise of daft Sinkies began at all levels in full steam. The daft CEOs that built business empires and financial institutions like banks should also be replaced with the new talents to run their banks. By the way, these new talents have never built a bank or started a business before but they are talented to bring the daft Sinkie businesses and empires to a higher plane. The daft Sinkies are no longer able to do any better for the institutions they helped to build, nurture and grow to where they are today. They must be replaced as quickly as possible.

The only group of Sinkies that are irreplaceable are the crème of Sinkie talents, the politicians. These will not be replaced by foreigners, no way when they are near immortals. The Sinkies would not allow it to happen. The Sinkies will tenaciously vote them into power so that they can continue with the talent replacement scheme until all daft Sinkies are replaced by talented foreigners.

The Sinkies can only aspire for the good life and hopefully they will be spurred to work harder and harder and remain as daft as ever, unthinking and not thinking. What is the good life to the daft Sinkies? This can be seen in the advertisements for high end properties and luxury stuff. Sinkies can only attain the good life if they marry a talented angmoh or foreigner. Oh, I need to qualify, only the pretty and desirable Sinkie females have this privilege to a good life. The talented angmohs have good taste too and would only want beautiful Sinkie lasses to share their good fortune. Now where is Anton? The advertisements made it very clear that daft Sinkie men are hopeless and would never be able to afford such high end luxuries and pretty women. Perhaps they were dull and ugly too.

The adverts say it all. Only the angmohs are the talented and are able to afford the good life and provide for the beautiful women. And they are not only talented but very good looking too, the perfect specimen not found in Sinkie men. In fact all advertisements of anything good, talented, expensive, good taste, luxurious, are part and parcel of the angmohs and foreigners. These are things that daft Sinkies would never possess because of their poor genes. This is not a case of self deprecating I am very sure.

How then should the Sinkies not be replaced by the talented and good genes of foreigners? I am sure all the daft Sinkies will nod in agreement and adore the talents and capabilities of the foreigners. They must be aspiring to want to buy a new set of foreign DNAs and get them injected into the eggs of their spouses and hoping that science will make their progeny as talented and well endowed as the angmohs.

Wonder how long will it take for all the dull Sinkies to be replaced by the talented foreigners? But not to worry, the Sinkies are waiting patiently and eagerly to be replaced. They know that this is the best thing ever to happen to them, and it is good for the country too. They will accept their fate in quiet obedience. They will be no protest or resistance to their replacement.

As I said, please do not underestimate the stupidity of daft Sinkies. Many are hoping that the replacement exercise will be completed faster to save them the waiting and the agony. They know that they are unworthy and there is nothing they can do about it. What is the point when they are born daft and unpleasing in every way and unable to compete with the foreign talents? They should be thankful and grateful to their dear leaders and the foreign talents to liberate them from their misery.

April 1st should be gazetted as a Sinkie Day, a national holiday.

Kopi Level - Green

MH370 – The slips that spoke a louder truth

3 weeks have passed and there is not a single shred of concrete evidence to tell what happened to MH370. We are back at square one with many people furiously rushing to the Antarctics where all the ‘evidences’ are pointing, that there is where the aircraft had crashed. We have heard all the leads, some supposedly very real, some like real, some very technical, some plain speculative and some plain idiotic, but all saying one thing, MH370 crashed in the Antarctics. Now, if these did not smell a rat, what else could? Is there someone trying to lead everyone by the nose to the Antarctics?

Throughout this period of panicky search, grasping at anything that moved, what was really telling a more compelling story could be from the slips that popped up along the way. The first slip came from the Malaysians claiming that they saw a few blips heading towards the Malacca Straits and then northwest. This was later refuted when the Indonesians said their radars in the same area did not see anything. Of all the people, the Indonesians were a neutral party and have no interest to want to lie or hide anything. In fact this claim by the Indonesians is very material to dispel more speculative claims later. I will elaborate this as I go along.

The next major slip came from the Indian Govt claiming that they could not afford to switch on their radars all the time, in another words they did not see anything, or they were not going to reveal what they had seen. This is also a very important leak if you know what the Indians were really saying.

The reports that islanders in the Maldives saw an aircraft flew very low over the island on the morning of MH370’s disappearance was meant to be another lead. To make the story more convincing, they added that the aircraft was painted in the same red and white as MH370. Though flying very low, they could not see the MAS logo on the aircraft. What did that say? From all angles and explanations, there was no reason for MH370 to be in Maldives and not flying at that level. What was the intent of this lead or mislead?

The most important leak or slip came when PM Abbott found it so important to rush to call Najib personally when all he got was a couple of images of debris in the Antarctics. And the Australians even thought it an earth shattering discovery to hold a press conference on this find. What did Abbott know, or what were the Australians trying to tell the world? Yes, without any concrete evidence, they were pointing to the Antarctics as the crash site. Were they pulling everyone’s ear to look there?

This was followed by two theories of a suicidal pilot and an aircraft flying on auto pilot, the pilot being dead, and in both cases somehow must head towards where the Australians said was the crash site, a remote corner that is really out of this world. What coincidences! There must be a big magnet there, or a black hole.

Then technical proof came from Immarsat with pings showing two arcs, a northern and a southern arc where the aircraft could fly. And of course it must be the southerly one and must be pointing to the site the Australians said so. And nobody remembered or wanted to remember that the Indonesians categorically denied seeing any aircraft on their radar screens. A southerly flight path must be seen by many Indonesian radars. A dead pilot would not be evading radars anymore. So would a suicidal pilot with 238 dead bodies keeping him company on his last 7 hours of flight. The thought of flying an aircraft with all the dead bodies alone, and a dead co pilot sitting beside him would be enough to scare him to death.

Nonetheless more debris was captured on satellite cameras but never to be seen by ships or aircraft searching in the area. And so was the silence of the black boxes, presumably in the area but not sending out any signals to be heard.

The leads or slips got more important and hilarious with the finale coming from Najib who conclusively declared that the aircraft crashed at the spot the Australians said so and all passengers were dead. The important thing is what was said to Najib or shown to him by the Australians to make him so convinced, so confident to go public to pronounce the passengers dead and the MH370 ended there, and the case was closed? Without revealing the information given to him by the Australians he appeared quite stupid and this was not missed by anyone. Probably he is now regretting what he had said as the information passed to him was top secret and he could not go public to redeem himself. Did the Australians know something that nobody knows?

The biggest mystery about this incident is the role of the Americans. Does anyone notice that the Americans have deliberately taken a minor role while Australia is assuming the leadership? It is abnormal for the Americans, with its number One superpower status, the amount of high tech equipment and satellites at its disposal, and its consistent policy of wanting to show who is the boss man but chose to take a step back in this search? And someone pointed out rightly that it took the Americans a whole 3 weeks to deliver their blackbox seeking underwater craft to the Australians. This would take another 4 days to reach the site, just about the end of the battery life of the blackboxes.

From all the slips and leaks and the false leads, a picture can actually be painted to tell a better story of what happened to MH370 and how it ended up in the Antarctics and still untraceable, and its blackboxes still dead.

Hsien Loong – the govt doing the right thing

This is what Hsien Loong said during his tour of Britain to a British audience. The statement was an absolute truth 20 or 30 years ago but this is no longer the case as the sentiment has changed. And this is best proven by the electoral defeats in the last two by elections. Hsien Loong and his party could still believe that it is so, and this is expected as they must believe that they were doing the right thing. Can’t imagine the outcome if they did not believe that they were doing the right thing in the first place.
 
On the other extreme, especially the moods and comments in the social media, things are not looking right for his govt. There has never been so much anger among the people, so many grievances and so many ‘right’ policies but seen as bad policies being paraded as anti citizens or bad for the citizens. But this is just a perception of course, and depending on who you are, where you are, there are many who would still swear by the PAP as the best govt there is. Some are still enjoying their golden years with unbelieveable comfort and luxurious lifestyle they have never imagined could happen.
 
There are always many views and many angles to look at a situation. But some of the policies are going to have very serious impact on the nation and people in times to come and could make or destroy all the good works built over the last 40 years. The high cost of living, of properties, of medical, and of everything, are serious matters that cannot be ignored. But none is more threatening, divisive and dangerous than the open door immigration policies that led to the surge in population and the influx of foreigners. There are many signs of a mismatch and tensions, that the foreigners would supplant and undermine, undercut the docile population that have been domesticated and no longer know the law of the jungle, how to fight as a clan, how to cheat, and the survival of the fittest.
 
Singapore is in a way like Israel. The Israel of today is dominated by a new breed of Israelis, the migrants from Europe. They have taken over from the native Israelis, the original people of the land. They are the new rulers of the land. But the saving grace is that they are quite homogeneous in a way, with a very strong historical sense of being, of being a people with a common destiny.
 
The rojak citizenship of Singapore is itself a problem. Before this rojak becomes a complementary mix, the original people of the founding generations are now faced with a new threat from a breed of foreigners with very different attitude, aggressiveness and motivation. The new citizens are here to grab everything they could for themselves, from the founding generations. They may look similar but they are very different in many ways. They are aliens and they do not take kindly of the domesticated citizenry. Even at this early stage of their presence there are all the signs or repugnance, abrasiveness and thuggishness that the original citizens could be bullied, taken advantage of and dismissed as and when they pleased. And no one is holding them back.
 
The future Singaporean mix is not going to be like the Israelis, one people, one nation. It is going to be many people and no nation. Or worst, alien people ruling over the original Singaporeans, in a way more like Troy.
 
Are the govt really doing the right thing? This is a very subjective question and many would disagree as many would agree. What is the future holding for the original Singaporeans with the govt thinking they are doing the right thing?

Kopi Level - Yellow

There are no traitors, no 卖国贼

In history books, or fictions, there are always stories of heroes, patriots and traitors to glorify and to condemn. In reality, this is not always true, not so simple. Heard of the saying, ‘For they know not what they are doing’? We are programmed to read a story with the good and the villains on two sides of white and black. We see the heroes and villains consciously and purposefully doing what they were doing, doing the rights and doing the wrongs. There were intents and purposes to do just that, to do good and to do bad. Thus they were easily recognisable as the heroes and the villains. They called such characterization two dimensional.

Life is not so simple. The heroes or villains may be doing things as a matter of fact. The heroes did not know that they were doing things that were heroic. The villains too may not know that they were doing villainous things as well. In many cases they could be thinking that they were all doing good things for the country, for the good of the people. Another variation, the heroes could be the unsuspecting villains and the villains could be the self righteous heroes.

Take the example of the selling of Alaska by the Russians to the Americans. To the Russians, it was a piece of waste land. Might as well sell it and use the money for development, for the good of the people. How can they be accused of selling their national assets away, as traitors to their country? No, that is why the Russians never see anything wrong with that even today. But some may see it as an act of treason, selling national territories away.

Coming closer to home, we have a govt that is doing all the good things for the people. The govt is working so hard to give people the good life, good and affordable homes, good and affordable healthcare, keeping the roads free of jams, creating good jobs for the people, attracting investments for GDP growth that brings along higher quality of living. They even make sure you keep your money safely in your CPF and not to squander them away. And there are many other things that the govt is doing right but the people cannot appreciate, like increasing the population for growth through mass migration, or replacing less talented Singaporeans with more talented foreigners for the good of the country and people.

Instead, the people are not appreciating the good work and sacrifices of the political leaders, and even calling them traitors and all kinds of names. But the political leaders meant well, with good intentions, and the country is soaring, not sinking. And we can proudly call ourselves Singaporeans, not Sinkies.

So, what is all this talk about the govt being traitors or selling out the citizens? No way, the govt is working for you, for the good of the people except that the people cannot see the goodness in them and feel that they are being dismissed or evicted from the main stream of life, being replaced by talented foreigners. That is not true and the govt and political leaders know it. The people who are replaced are simply no good, lazy and not talented enough. That is why the govt is tenaciously doing what they think is right for the people. And they know, and Singapore will be getting better and better and will last another one hundred years.

It is not right to call them traitors. They are not. They are the heroes, the saviours of our country and people. And don’t forget, these men and women are the crème de la crème of our people, the very very best we have, even god like in nature or immortals. They are specially chosen to be morally virtuous and self sacrificing to serve the people and nation. One look at them you will know that you have the best and can sleep in peace, that the country is in good hands and you have a great life waiting for you.

There are no traitors and no卖国贼. History will eventually vindicate the political leaders as the heroes in the future and the future Singaporeans will build giant statues and monuments to honour them.

PS. Writing this piece sure kena whack till tolok tolok.

Kopi Level - Green

MH370 – 7 pings that sealed the fate of 239 passengers

Immarsat said their satellites received 7 pings from MH370 after the ACARS was switched off and the aircraft disappeared. Were the 7 pings normal, expected to be sent by the aircraft in such a situation? Or were the 7 pings something abnormal, not designed for, but somehow were sent to the satellites and not other satellites? 
Are there instruments in the aircraft that could send out such signals after the ACARS was switched off all the way to the satellites? How did Immarsat confirm that the 7 pings came from MH370 across 10,000 miles in open space? How sure are they?

Everyone following this incident, including the experts and govt officials, have accepted the 7 pings on face value, that they came from MH370. What if they were not, were something else, or from some unknown sources?

The importance of the 7 pings is such that the fate of the aircraft and the lives of 239 passengers depended on this mysterious signals that may not be what they were claimed to be. Could Immarsat tell the world how reliable is their claim that the 7 pings indeed originated from the missing aircraft? Or is this another wild goose chase?

This whole thing is looking like someone wanted everyone to look at the Antarctic and somehow there were satellite images in that corner of the world, pings also pointing there, and now more debris are found floating there. And another mystery is appearing, no one has picked up a single piece of debris and no signal from the black boxes despite so many planes and ships in the area.

Does anyone have any doubts about the credibility of the 7 pings?

PS. Always question information and their sources when in doubt.

The Singapore Inquisition

The Little India Riot arising from a vehicle accident and the death of a drunkard led to the burning of police vehicles, attacking of police officers by lowly educated villagers from the sub continent of India. Many police officers were injured. This led to a public inquiry on the causes of the rioting that is unprecedented in the last 40 years of the island’s history.

From the news reported in the media and the evidence, views and opinions of the witnesses, it is looking more like an inquisition like the Middle Ages when the witches and the innocents were jailed, killed or burnt at the stakes. The rioters did not seem to be an issue now and are out of the picture while the bus driver and the time keeper and the police officers are now the primary target of the inquiry. Would the bus driver and time keeper be turned into modern day witches to be sacrificed at the stakes? Would the police officers who were there to quell the rioting ended up as the target of the inquisition and the badly sought after sacrificial lamb to bring a closure to the incident? Still doesn’t make any sense if they are found to be a contributor to the riot.

How is it that the people not rioting ended up having to explain their actions and have to redeem themselves instead or becoming the cause of the riot? What is going on? And why should the buck stop at the police officers who were there to stop the rioting? If it is meant to be witch hunt, should the buck go higher? Who is being persecuted?

This is like someone shitted and the people being hauled up are the cleaners and the owner of the spot where the shit is, including those who stood by and watched. The intellect of the Middle Ages is having a new life in modernity.

Of cleavage and dichotomy in the Singapore plurality

I have been ranting almost daily on the open leg policies of the Govt practically everyday and highlighting the serious flaws and consequences taking place. Many Sinkies have fallen victims to these policies and are clamming up, resigned to their fate like what daft Sinkies often do. Those Sinkies that are not affected, yet, are getting irritated by my constant drumming and refuse to see that their turn will come one day when they lose their jobs and unable to pay the high mortgages for their nice homes and nice cars. But my drummings must have some effects, big or small, on the Govt and the elite to want to make amends to this dire state of affair. If it is all gone with the wind, then the deaf frogs can continue to remain deaf and do as they like and wait to be bundled out in the most shocking electoral defeat in the next GE.

There is an interesting article by Tommy Koh in the ST this morning, titled, ‘Is there an ideological cleavage in Spore? I would like to repost the whole article here but ST would probably come after me for copyright infringement. So I will talk about what Tommy said and quote some of his wisdoms to share with my fellow bloggers.

Though Tommy politely asked a question, but his article said it clearly that there is a wide cleavage and waiting to be healed. This global city concept is the remedy of Singapore’s economic ire as well as the cause of the sad state of affair happening daily, to its victims of mainly the PMETs. According to Tommy, ‘American business school gurus such as Gary Hamel have managed to convince Singapore leaders that there is a global competition for talent. In order to succeed, Singapore cannot rely only on its home grown talent. It must look outward and recruit talented people from all over the world, to key positions in both our public and private sectors.’

The recommendation is sound with some provisos and cannot be taken literally, hook, line and sinker. Only silly asses will just blindly accept it as the panacea and implement it without any reservations or amendments. The first point is obviously the issue of nationhood and citizens versus a hotel that has no citizens to talk about. The other point is about key positions and not all and sundry down the line. Why do they want to recruit a super talent in recruiting employees or a salesgirl, or a supervisor? And the dangerous part is to bring in foreigners to key positions in the public sector. But for this the Govt has drawn an invisible line, as long as the political office and administrative services are out of the loop, anything goes.

‘The hunt for foreign talent became a national obsession. As a result, Singapore was in danger of overlooking its own talents.’ Said Tommy. And this obsession went down to talents in sports, in housing agents, in property agents, in employing agencies, and likely in prostitutes as well. When elites are not thinking, this is what will happen.

Tommy added, ‘I am glad that there is a more balanced attitude today. This is the result of two developments. First, Singapore discovered that some so called foreign talent was not really very talented. Second, there was the discovery that, in some cases, when a foreign chief executive officer was hired, he or she discriminated against Singaporeans when hiring staff.’ This is not the bad part. The bad part is for the authority to let it happened and doing nothing about it or paying lip services and pretend that the problem is solved.

The most important statement made by Tommy, though actually very simple and any idiot would know and understand, except the deaf frogs, is this, ‘My conclusion is that Singapore should continue to welcome foreign talent. But it should do so to complement Singaporean talent, not to supplant it. Everything being equal, Singapore should give priority to its own talent.’ When this has to be said in so simple a language and hoping that people will understand, it is so pathetic, and near to hopelessness.

I would like to thank Tommy for his ranting for the sake of country and citizens. The daft Sinkies may be uncomfortable with my rantings, but hopefully they know that this is indeed a serious problem if they can see further than the tip of their nose. And hopefully some deaf frogs will wake up from their arrogant and self righteous demeanour to do the right thing, to do something for the Sinkies if it is not too late.

Kopi Level - Yellow