Hsien Loong versus Roy Ngerng, a case he cannot lose

After Roy Ngerng’s apology to Hsien Loong and his withdrawal of some posts in his blog, the defamation suit is now in court pending a hearing in July. This is becoming a case where Hsien Loong cannot lose and it would be a matter of how much would the damages be for tarnishing his reputation.
 
The big question in everyone’s mind, and in Hsien Loong’s as well, is whether he wants to pursue and win this case. It is a no brainer to ask when a victory in court is a near certainty for the plaintiff to want to back out and withdraw the charge. Exactly, and it is exactly why everyone is asking. A legal victory in this case could end up as a hollow victory. It is the consequence of a political repercussion that would be troubling Hsien Loong as a politician. He has to seriously consider how this victory would play on his chances and the votes for the PAP in the next GE.
 
The spontaneous,unconditional and unquestioned support of the people in rushing to Roy Ngerng’s aid, to hand money to him to fight this defamation suit must mean something to Hsien Loong and the PAP. The protest rally at Hong Lim and the high turnout out in Singapore’s context must also be telling Hsien Loong something.
 
There is a message. The people are not happy with the defamation suit. The people are not happy with the govt’s handling of the CPF savings. The people are behind Roy Ngerng even if it is only 40%. How many votes will be converted as a result of this defamation suit is still everyone’s guess. It would definitely cost Hsien Loong and the PAP some votes, and the fear is that it would be enough to tip the scale. Many seats were decided by a 10% winning margin or less.
 
Would it make any difference if Hsien Loong shows some magnanimity and generosity to Roy Ngerng and call off the suit? What is the difference if suit is allowed to proceed or to stop it now? It is no longer a legal issue. It is politics, it is constructive versus destructive politics. It is not Hsien Loong versus Roy Ngerng, It is more than that. It is Hsien Loong versus the people. It is PAP versus the people. It is about the nature of politics and whether this will change as the country moves forward, or it is more of the same, the same politics of Sue.

Kopi Level - Green

India to boost trade with China

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is visiting India with a big bag of proposals to improve trade between the world’s two most populous countries. Unlike the Americans and the Japanese, wherever the Chinese go, they will end up signing trade pacts while the Americans and Japanese would be signing military pacts.
China India trade has a lot of room to grow if both countries put their minds to it. The problem with improving relations between the countries lies in India’s self delusion of a China coveting Indian territories. This myth has been created since the Sino India border war and bred bitterness in mindset of the Indian population and politicians. India must face the truth and realities of its relations with China to go forward.
 
Historically, India and China has never invaded each other or had wars with each other in the name of conquest. The Sino Indian border war was India’s own doing when it attempted to seize Chinese territories with its go east policy under Nehru. The disastrous defeat by the Chinese PLA resulted not only in shame but turned into hatred for China to hide the real cause of the war.
 
That war also proved that China had no intent to seize any Indian territory or to settle the border dispute by force. China voluntary withdrew from India and returned to the original position at the border till today. There were still some border skirmishes and India is totally to blame for their adventurism. The fear of a Chinese invasion is hogwash, a political stance to create an enemy out of China. China would not have withdrawn after the 1962 border war if that was China’s intent.
 
Other than the overhyped border dispute and blaming China, India is fully engaged in hosting the Tibetan separatist movements in India and supporting the Dalai Lama in his secessionist plan. This is not going to be good for relations with China but the Chinese have been playing down this role of India in interfering with China’s domestic affairs to avoid further tension between the two states.
 
India should erase the China threat myth and reduce its support of the Tibetan movements and move forward in a big way for trade and economic growth with China. There is nothing to gain to live in a self deluded myth and to agitate, harbour and support separatist movements in India against China. In today’s geopolitics, wars of conquest for territorial gains are no longer a viable option. There is great potential for India and China to grow and prosper together and live harmoniously as two great neigbours. There is no China threat against India in imagination and in reality as such an attempt would only lead the two countries to endless strife and economic ruins. The relationship between the two countries should be economic prosperity for both and the uplifting of the lives of more than 2 billion people in the two countries. Indulging in talks of war is a foolish and wasteful activity that is best set aside when there is so much to be gained in productive economic activities.
 
Would India and China take a different and new path towards economic growth and not to follow the western craze for war, threats of war and living in the fear of war? Would India remove the China bogeyman and stop allowing the West to use this excuse to drive a wedge between the two Asian powers?

Kopi Level - Green

Singapore’s changing political landscape– From ‘boh tak cheh’ to fallen talents

It is quite unbelieveable today for a barber or ‘chee cheong fan’ hawker to stand for election in a GE. That was how we started in those days. But in those days, where many were illiterate, received very low education, the lack of education of the politicians was not a measure of their intellect. Many were highly intelligent individuals though uneducated or educated only up to primary school level. And they were elected as the people’s representatives to Parliament. The people believed and trusted them to be good enough to be in the Govt.
 
As we progressed, more tertiary educated and professionals stepped forward to join political parties. They were the elite of the time when less than 3 per cent of each cohort of students made it to university. Tertiary graduates from the universities and polytechnics were hard to come by.
 
Then we progressed further, scholars were touted as the best talents for govt. Successful professionals were proclaimed as super talents. And we needed super talents to raise the quality of govt. And super talents must also be paid like super talents. And there were very high expectations from the super talents.
 
It did not take long before the super talent myth was deflated. We are all witness to what the super talents could do and how many became mediocre in politics though they were tops in their professions. It came so sudden, the stark reality that super talents are not really super talents when come to serving the people and working for the interests of the people. They looked like fish out of water in politics.
 
The grand slam came in two by elections in Hougang and Punggol East. The rest is history. Super talents are out. The people want leaders with a heart and not just exceptional academic talents. And too clever politicians may be too clever for their own good and not good for the people.
 
From moving away from the ‘boh tak cheh’ politicians, the people are now moving away from the super talent politicians. Just give us some good men and women. No need to be outstandingly clever in academics or making millions in their professions. Good honest and decent men and women that think first of the people are more desirable than super talents that worried more about how many more millions they should be getting for their big sacrifice. These people are too busy with their jobs, making really good money, would they have time to roll up their sleeves, to dirty their hands on minor and mundane little problems of the people?

Kopi Level - Green

Half a thousand

Forty years ago, this guy walked into a bank to get a car loan. The bank officer asked for his salary. ‘Half a thousand!’, he replied confidently. In those days, a Morris Minor cost about $5,000, no need COE. Practically every young army officer could afford a car and a flat after working for less than 3 years. And many were non graduates, O and A levels were the norm. And they were quite comfortable with half a thousand, and getting a one thousand dollar salary, or four figure, was a statement of having arrived for the young men.
 
How many could afford to buy a car today with a $3,000 income? And how many could afford a HDB flat with a single income? Oops, I am wrong on this. Sorry, a $1,000 income is enough to buy a flat.
 
Those were the days when half a thousand could get one quite far, dating the girl next door, going for joy ride with a brand new car with not a concern for the cost of petrol. ‘Chiat hong’ was fun, a leisurely drive around the island with girl friend or family was having a good time. Life might be simpler then, and the stress level was pretty low.
 
Today the people are richer. ‘What is ten million’ is often uttered by the super rich. Life is really good. Don’t ever tell anyone your income is half a thousand. An uneducated cleaner is already earning a four figure income. Half a thousand is below poverty line. A two thousand household income is likely to be below poverty line too.

Kopi Level - Green

Sequel to Redbean's Article On TIANANMEN

Sequel to Redbean's 'Tiananmen - The  Monstrous Master Plan of  CIA   in Tiananmen

The Tian-anmen Incident was organised and planned by CIA over a long period of time.. It did not just happen overnight. The Tian-anmen incident happened because of the treachery of US via its terrorist arm CIA. US treachery and long held doctrine of subversion of other countries to enhance its policy of world domination and hegemony. For many years prior to the Tian-anmen incident USA secret and under cover CIA agents working out from its embassy in Beijing and consulates in Shanghai, Chungking and Hong Kong had infiltrated into Chinese societies and institutions . The hundreds of English teachers they sent to China  and many of their businessmen were American spies and undercover agents who recruited and trained subversive elements to destabilise and overthrow the Chinese government and thereby to destroy China. The  Tian-anmen mob was organised and staged by CIA subversive elements, misguided youths and traitors and fanned by US misinformation, disinformation , lies and half truths to incite the Chinese people against the Chinese government and instigate a new Chinese civil war so as to weaken and eventually destroy China. It is important to note that all the ring leaders of the Tian-Anmen incident were subsequently and secretly whisked out of the country by CIA and  sent to America. CIA had planned everything carefully and secretly including the lines of escape for the Chinese traitors and turncoats.if things went wrong.

It is important to note that China was absoulutely right in resolutely quelling these misguided rioting mobs infiltrated by CIA trained internal subversive elements and incited and instigated by CIA agents.  You just can't imagine, had CIA succeeded in
promoting choas and instability in Beijing and all over China , what would then happen to China and the Chinese people. China would then return to the days of the warlords and the inconsequential Chiang Kai Shek era. In other words China would become the Sick Men of Asia again to be trampled by the West and Japan. The Chinese and China would then be humiliated again with no self respect and dignity. It is of paramount importance that such incidents do not happen again.

Below are extracts of some information from an article  'What Really Happened in Tiananmen Square 25 Years Ago.'  Written by Brian Becker. Global Research                                                                       

US  Government and US mass media demonise China falsely on Tiananmen Incident.   PART 1

Twenty-five years ago today,  U.S. mass media,   President Bush and  U.S. Congress adopted a frenzy and  hysterical  attack against the Chinese government for what they falsely claimed as  the cold-blooded massacre of  thousands of non-violent “pro-democracy” students who had occupied Tiananmen Square for seven weeks. Undoubtedly no government in the West and US will tolerate such a huge riotus mob in their country for seven weeks and they will surely use military force to clear it within twenty-four  hours. Therefore why such holy hypocrisy except to serve their purpose of demonising China.

The accusation was based on a fictitious narrative about what actually happened when the Chinese government finally cleared the square of protestors on June 4, 1989. The demonization of China was highly effective and US SOCIETY  believed  the imperialist version of the incident.The mob set a tank on fire outside of Tiananmen Square, June 4, 1989    

THE Chinese government’s official account of the events was immediately dismissed by US as false propaganda. China reported that about 300 people had died in clashes on June 4 and that many of the dead were soldiers of the Peoples Liberation Army. China insisted that there was no massacre of students in Tiananmen Square and in fact the soldiers cleared Tiananmen Square of demonstrators without any shooting.

The Chinese government also asserted that unarmed soldiers who had entered Tiananmen Square in the two days prior to June 4 were set on fire and lynched with their corpses hung from buses. Other soldiers were incinerated when army vehicles were torched with soldiers unable to evacuate and many others were badly beaten by violent mob attacks.

These accounts were true and well documented. It would not be difficult to imagine how violently the Pentagon and U.S. law enforcement agencies would have reacted if the Occupy movement, for instance, had similarly set soldiers and police on fire, taken their weapons and lynched them when the government was attempting to clear them from public spaces.

In an article on June 5, 1989, the Washington Post described how anti-government fighters had been organized into formations of 100-150 people. They were armed with Molotov cocktails and iron clubs, to meet the PLA who were still unarmed in the days prior to June 4.

Armed rebellion plotted by CIA.   Washington Post , Wall Street Journal and New York Times paddled false propaganda , lies and half truths. PART 2

What happened in China, what took the lives of government opponents and of soldiers on June 4, was not a massacre of peaceful students but a battle between PLA soldiers and armed detachments from the so-called pro-democracy movement.

On one avenue in western Beijing, demonstrators torched an entire military convoy of more than 100 trucks and armored vehicles. Aerial pictures of conflagration and columns of smoke have powerfully bolstered the [Chinese] government’s arguments
 that the troops were victims, not executioners. Other scenes show soldiers’ corpses and demonstrators stripping automatic rifles off unresisting soldiers,” admitted the Washington Post in a story that was favorable to anti-government opposition on June 12, 1989.

The Wall Street Journal, the leading voice of anti-communism, served as a vociferous cheerleader for the “pro-democracy” movement. Yet, their coverage right after June 4 acknowledged that many “radicalized protesters, some now armed with guns and vehicles commandeered in clashes with the military” were preparing for larger armed struggles. The Wall Street Journal report on the events of June 4 portrays a vivid picture:

As columns of tanks and tens of thousands soldiers approached Tiananmen many troops were set on by angry mobs … dozens of soldiers were pulled from trucks, severely beaten and left for dead. At an intersection west of the square, the body of a
young soldier, who had beaten to death, was stripped naked and hung from the side of a bus. Another soldier’s corpse was strung at an intersection east of the square.

The massacre that wasn’t  and the lies propagated by American press.  PART 3

In the days immediately after June 4, 1989, the New York Times headlines, articles and editorials used the figure that “thousands” of peaceful activists had been massacred when the army sent tanks and soldiers into the Square. The number that the Times was using as an estimate of dead was 2,600. That figure was used as the go-to number of student activists who were mowed down in Tiananmen. Almost every U.S. media outlet reported “many thousands” killed. Many media outlets said as many 8,000 had been slaughtered.

Tim Russert, NBC’s Washington Bureau Chief, appearing later on Meet the Press said “tens of thousands” died in Tiananmen Square.

The fictionalized version of the “massacre” was later corrected in some very small measure by Western reporters who had participated in the fabrications and who were keen to touch up the record so that they could say they made “corrections.” But by then it was too late and they knew that too. Public consciousness had been shaped. The false narrative became the dominant narrative. They had successfully massacred the facts to fit the political needs of the U.S. government.

“Most of the hundreds of foreign journalists that night, including me, were in other parts of the city or were removed from the square so that they could not witness the final chapter of the student story. Those who tried to remain close filed dramatic accounts that, in some cases, buttressed the myth of a student massacre,” wrote Jay Mathews, the Washington Post’s first Bureau Chief in Beijing, in a 1998 article in the Columbia Journalism Review.

Mathews’ article, which includes his own admissions to using the terminology of the Tiananmen Square massacre, came nine years after the fact and he acknowledged that corrections later had little impact. “The facts of Tiananmen have been known for a long time. When Clinton visited the square this June, both The Washington Post and The New York Times explained that no one died there [in Tiananmen Square] during the 1989 crackdown. But these were short explanations at the end of long articles. I doubt that they did much to kill the myth.”

At the time all of the reports about the massacre of the students said basically the same thing and thus it seemed that they must be true. But these reports were not based on eyewitness testimony.

What really happened .  Protest leaders knew they had full backing of United States and were emboldened. PART 4

For seven weeks leading up to June 4, the Chinese government was extraordinarily restrained in not confronting those who paralyzed the center of China’s central capital area. The Prime Minister met directly with protest leaders and the meeting was broadcast on national television. This did not defuse the situation but rather emboldened the protest leaders who knew that they had the full backing of the United States.

The protest leaders erected a huge statue that resembled the United States’ Statue of Liberty in the middle of Tiananmen Square. They were signaling to the entire world that their political sympathies were with the capitalist countries and the United States in particular. They proclaimed that they would continue the protests until the government was ousted.

With no end in sight the Chinese leadership decided to end the protests by clearing Tiananmen Square. Troops came into the Square without weapons on June 2 and many soldiers were beaten, some were killed and army vehicles were torched.

On June 4, the PLA re-entered the Square with weapons. According to the U.S. media accounts of the time that is when machine gun toting PLA soldiers mowed down peaceful student protests in a massacre of thousands.

China said that reports of the “massacre” in Tiananmen Square were a fabrication created both by Western media and by the protest leaders who used a willing Western media as a platform for an international propaganda campaign in their interests.

Fabricated story by a student Wen Wei Po and taken as gospel truth by US MEDIA           PART 5

On June 12, 1989, eight days after the confrontation, the New York Times published an “exhaustive” but in fact fully fabricated eyewitness report of the Tiananmen Massacre by a student, Wen Wei Po. It was full of detailed accounts of brutality, mass murder, and heroic street battles. It recounted PLA machine gunners on the roof of Revolutionary Museum overlooking the Square and students being mowed down in the Square. This report was picked up by media throughout the U.S.

Although treated as gospel and irrefutable proof that China was lying, the June 12 “eyewitness” report by Wen Wei Po was so over the top and would so likely discredit the New York Times in China that the Times correspondent in Beijing, Nicholas

Kristof, who had served as a mouthpiece for the protestors, took exception to the main points in the article.

Kristof wrote in a June 13 article, “The question of where the shootings occurred has significance because of the Government’s claim that no one was shot on Tiananmen Square. State television has even shown film of students marching peacefully

away from the square shortly after dawn as proof that they were not slaughtered.”

“The central scene in the [eyewitness] article is of troops beating and machine-gunning unarmed students clustered around the Monument to the People’s Heroes in the middle of Tiananmen Square. Several other witnesses, both Chinese and foreign, say this did not happen,” Kristof wrote.

There is also no evidence of machine-gun emplacements on the roof of the history museum that were reported in the Wen Wei Po article. This reporter was directly north of the museum and saw no machine guns there. Other reporters and witnesses in the vicinity also failed to see them.

The central theme of the Wen Wei Po article was that troops subsequently beat and machine-gunned students in the area around the monument and that a line of armored vehicles cut off their retreat. But the witnesses say that armored vehicles did not surround the monument – they stayed at the north end of the square – and that troops did not attack students clustered around the monument. Several other foreign journalists were near the monument that night as well and none are known to have reported that students were attacked around the monument,” Kristof wrote in the June 13, 1989 article.

The Chinese government’s account acknowledges that street fighting and armed clashes occurred in nearby neighborhoods. They say that approximately three hundred died that night including many soldiers who died from gunfire, Molotov cocktails and beatings. But they have insisted that there was no massacre.

Kristof too says that there were clashes on several streets but refutes the “eyewitness” report about a massacre of students in Tiananmen Square, “… Instead, the students and a pop singer, Hou Dejian, were negotiating with the troops and decided to leave at dawn, between 5 A.M. and 6 A.M. The students all filed out together. Chinese television has shown scenes of the students leaving and of the apparently empty square as troops moved in as the students left.”

Attempted counter-revolution in China instigated and planned by CIA.to create a civil war  as a plot to carry out regime change of the Chinese government. PART 6

In fact, the U.S. government was actively involved in promoting the “pro-democracy” protests through an extensive, well-funded, internationally coordinated propaganda machine that pumped out rumors, half-truths and lies from the moment the protests started in mid-April 1989.

The goal of the U.S. government was to carry out regime change in China and overthrow the Communist Party of China which had been the ruling party since the 1949 revolution. Since many activists in today’s progressive movement were not alive or were young children at the time of the Tiananmen incident in 1989, the best recent example of how such an imperialist destabilization/regime change operation works is revealed in the recent overthrow of the Ukrainian government. Peaceful protests in the downtown square receive international backing, financing and media support from the United States and Western powers; they eventually come under the leadership of armed groups who are hailed as freedom fighters by the Wall Street Journal,

FOX News and other media; and finally the government targeted for overthrow by the CIA is fully demonized if it uses police or military forces.

In the case of the “pro-democracy” protests in China in 1989 the U.S. government was attempting to create a civil war. The Voice of America increased its Chinese language broadcasts to 11 hours each day and targeted the broadcast “directly to about 2,000 satellite dishes in China operated mostly by the Peoples Liberation Army.”viii

 The outrageous Voice of America tried to stir up in fighting among the PLA UNITS. PART 7

The Voice of America broadcasts to PLA units were filled with reports that some PLA units were firing on others and different units were loyal to the protestors and others with the government.

The Voice of America and U.S. media outlets tried to create confusion and panic among government supporters. Just prior to June 4 they reported that China’s Prime Minister Li Peng had been shot and that Deng Xiaoping was near death.

Most in the U.S. government and in the media expected the Chinese government to be toppled by pro-Western political forces as was starting to happening with the overthrow of socialist governments throughout Eastern and Central Europe at the time (1988-1991) following the introduction of pro-capitalist reforms by Gorbachev in the Soviet Union in 1991.

In China, the “pro-democracy” protest movement was led by privileged, well-connected students from elite universities who were explicitly calling for the replacement of socialism with capitalism. The leaders were particularly connected to the United States. Of course, thousands of other students who participated in the protests were in the Square because they had grievances against the government.

But the imperialist-connected leadership of the movement had an explicit plan to topple the government. Chai Ling, who was recognized as the top leader of the students, gave an interview to Western reporters on the eve of June 4 in which she acknowledged that the goal of the leadership was to lead the population in a struggle to topple the Communist Party of China, which she explained would only be possible if they could successfully provoke the government into violently attacking the demonstrations. That interview was aired in the film the “Gate of Heavenly Peace.” Chai Ling also explained why they couldn’t tell the rank and file student protestors about the leaders’ real plans.

“The pursuit of wealth is part of the impetus for democracy,” explained another top student leader Wang Dan, in an interview with the Washington Post in 1993, on the fourth anniversary of the incident. Wang Dan was in all the U.S. media before and after the Tiananmen incident. He was famous for explaining why the elitist student leaders didn’t want Chinese workers joining their movement. He stated “the movement is not ready for worker participation because democracy must first be absorbed by the students and intellectuals before they can spread it to others.”

Twenty-five years later – U.S. still seeks regime change and counter-revolution in China

US GOVERNMENT FRUSTRATED BY THE DISMAL FAILURE OF THE REBELLION. PART 8

The action by the Chinese government to disperse the so-called pro-democracy movement in 1989 was met with bitter frustration within the United States political establishment.

The U.S. imposed economic sanctions on China at first, but their impact was minimal and both the Washington political establishment and the Wall Street banks realized that U.S. corporations and banks  would be the big losers in the 1990′s if they tried to completely isolate China when China was further opening its vast domestic labor and commodities market to the direct investment from Western corporations. The biggest banks and corporations put their own profit margins first and the Washington politicians took their cue from the billionaire class on this question.

But the issue of counter-revolution in China will rear its head again. The economic reforms that were inaugurated after the death of Mao opened the country to foreign investment. This development strategy was designed to rapidly overcome the legacy of poverty and under-development by the import of foreign technology. In exchange the Western corporations received mega profits. The post-Mao leadership in the Communist Party calculated that the strategy would benefit China by virtue of a rapid technology transfer from the imperialist world to China. And indeed China has made great economic strides. But in addition to economic development there has also developed a larger capitalist class inside of China and a significant portion of that class and their children are being wooed by all types of institutions financed by the U.S. government, U.S. financial institutions and U.S. academic centers.

The Communist Party of China is also divided into pro-U.S. and pro-socialist factions and tendencies.

US, The Evil Empire will never cease its persistent plan to topple China. PA5T 9

Today, the United States government is applying ever greater military pressure on China. It is accelerating the struggle against China’s rise by cementing new military and strategic alliances with other Asian countries. It is also hoping that with enough pressure some in the Chinese leadership who favor abandoning North Korea will get the upper hand.

If counter-revolution were to succeed in China the consequences would be catastrophic for the Chinese people and for China. China would in all likelihood splinter as a nation as happened to the Soviet Union when the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was toppled. The same fate befell the former Yugoslavia. Counter-revolution and dismemberment would hurtle China backwards. It would put the brakes on China’s spectacular peaceful rise out of under-development. For decades there has been

a serious discussion within the U.S. foreign policy establishment about the dismemberment of China which would weaken China as a nation and allow the United States and Western powers to seize its most lucrative parts. This is precisely the scenario that cast China into its century of humiliation when Western capitalist powers dominated the country.

The Chinese Revolution has gone through many stages, victories, retreats and setbacks. Its contradictions are innumerable. But still it stands. In the confrontation between world imperialism and the Peoples Republic of China, progressive people should know where they stand – it is not on the sidelines.

China needs to be on constant perpetual alert and come out on top above US, The Evil Empire

Subsequent articles by Southernglory1 will focus on US as the prime masters of massacres, killings, genocide and lynching of Native Americans, African Americans and Chinese Americans as well as the evil and outrageous plots of CIA in its perennial mission of killings , assassinations , regime change and mass murder by drones. The whole American government machinery both past and present including all the Presidents, congress , senate, military , police and national guardsmen who were and are still perpetrators of the killings , assassinations, massacres and genocide should be reviewed, investigated and sentenced by United Nations.

The CPF Dialogue – The people taking the initiative

Roy Ngerng and his concerned Singaporean friends held a protest at Hong Lim Park to demand for more transparency and accountability on the people’s savings in the CPF. Other than demanding the return of the CPF savings, they also demanded for better interest rate, how the CPF savings are being invested, abolishing minimum sums, and a list of other things.

This is the first time the people are initiating the conversation, a public conversation on a very important issue affecting every Singaporean. Would the Govt make an effort to respond to the issues and demands raised by the speakers at Hong Lim? Or would this be another monologue, the people talking to themselves just like the Natcon initiated by the Govt, talking only to the convert? In the Natcon it was like the Govt telling the people these would the things they would do to the CPF. The people mumbled and grumbled and that was it. Last Saturday was like the people rising up to tell the Govt what they wanted, what they agreed and disagreed. It is so funny that we have two national conversations but there were no meeting of minds, like two people talking talking but not wanting to talk to each other.

Did the Govt invite critical views like those from the opposition parties or Govt critics to join in the Natcon? Did Roy Ngerng and Hui Hui invite the Govt to Hong Lim Park to speak as well? Apparently up till last Saturday, both sides are keeping each other at a distance or at arm’s length. There was supposed to be a press conference at the end of the rally. When the media were invited to speak, none spoke as if the media were not even there to cover the event. Were the local media present? The foreign media were there.

Hri Kumar is holding a public dialogue with residents of Thomson and Toa Payoh next Saturday to talk about the CPF. Hri Kumar called his public dialogue ‘CPF, An honest conversation’ and invited his residents to register their attendance.

Kenneth Jeyaretnam, Roy Ngerng and Ariffin Sha were reported to have registered for the public dialogue. It would be an interesting dialogue when the two camps met to have a serious and in dept discussion on this very important matter. I think many people from other constituencies would also like to attend. Maybe I should also register my attendance to get enlightened by the two very informed parties on the CPF issues. This initiative by Kenneth and Roy, to make an effort to talk to the other camp, could address a lot of issues and misconceptions about the CPF. It would definitely benefit all Singaporeans.

The avoidance to meet and discuss cannot go on while keeping on a wayang of talking and listening. A healthy exchange in a constructive manner would be a good start to a real dialogue. Now many have doubts whether such a dialogue would be possible, would really take place. Would Hri Kumar welcome Kenneth, Roy and his friends to this dialogue? Or would they be ruled out of order, not qualified to attend?

Kopi Level - Green

First Gen and present Gen PAP solved problems

When the first generation PAP leaders took over this country, the job was cut out for them. Everything needed to be fixed. Unemployment and growing population, lack of industries, lack of housing, healthcare, schools/universities and good jobs, the uniformed services to defend the country, the civil service etc etc. Everything needed to be done and to be done fast.

Everyone in the leadership rolled up their sleeves, including all the civil servants, to get things done. They did it. Housing, industrial parks, good jobs, full employment, good medical services, our own armed forces and police force, an efficient civil service etc etc. They practically solved every existing problem of the day. The people were contented and gave their full support to the leaders.

The present generation of PAP leaders also solved a lot of problems. Housing problem is more or less solved except that the price is still sky high and some Singaporeans still not allowed to buy HDB flats and thus no stake in the country, expensive medical care is waiting to be solved, influx of foreigners is slowing down a bit, high property prices falling, jam packed trains will become better, traffic jams also improving. Not bad huh? This present generation leaders are also great problem solvers. Give them any problem they will solve it.

The only difference between the first generation leaders and present leadership is that the first generation leaders solved problems they inherited or were existing. The present leaders solved problems they created. And as they go along, they will create more problems to solve. The CPF is one of them, high cost of living, high property prices, high population growth from immigration, congestion, all are waiting to be solved.

And when they have solved these problems, they will pat their back and said well done, so clever. 

Kopi Level - Red

CPF Protest Rally at Hong Lim Park

There were no 10,000 crowd, but not 200 supporters either. About 5,000 t0 6,000 people were at Hong Lim to support Roy and Hui Hui in this protest asking the Govt to Return Our CPF money. Many well wishers were there with cash to donate to Roy but could not find a donation box. The organisers were told that no donation box was allowed. But somehow the money still found their way to Roy and Hui Hui who had came out with her own money to erect the tents and sound system.

The speakers, Tan Kin Lian, KJ Jeyaretnam, Ariffin Sha, Vincent Wijeysingha, Leong Sze Hian, Hui Hui and Roy took the stage. Chee Soon Juan's message was read out by Ariffin as he was away. The crowd was appreciative and cheered their hero in Roy Ngerng.

Below are some of the photos I took which would give a better feel of what happened yesterday.

The top 4 pics were the speakers followed by some pics on the messages that were carried around by the supporters of the event. The bottom few pics were the crowd and the last pic, strolling back home after the rally.

Kopi Level - Red

Singapore is a democracy

Yes, Singapore is a democratic state. It has all the forms and institutions of democracy. The funny thing is that many Sinkies still think that they are living in a dictatorship or a kingdom of sort and living in fear of the authority. At least this is the impression that I get after reading the comments in the social media and main media.

Every four or five years the people will march to the polling stations to vote for their representatives in Parliament. And they did this after attending the election rallies and hearing the candidates making promises on how they will serve them as their representatives. And when they vote, there seemed to be this fear hanging over their heads that eventually determined who they should vote.

After 50 years of independence and living in a democratic system, the people somehow did not believe so. Did they know that in every general election they could vote in a new political party to run the country? Do they know that if a political party failed to serve their interest, they could simply vote in another one? There is nothing wrong with changing the political party in govt. That is what democracy is all about.

By their hesitant in changing the govt gives those in govt to think that they will be the govt forever and even plan to be in govt like a career, with promotions, performance bonuses, career training and development, and even talking down to the people. And the people tremble in fear, wetting their pants just by thinking of it. As least this is what some of the pathetic Sinkies are behaving.

The people must believe that this is a democracy and if they are not happy with any govt, they should just vote them out. And the people in govt must also know that if they don’t serve the interest of the people they would be booted out in a GE. This sequence of changing govt is a check on the politicians to behave like politicians in a democracy and not in a dictatorship or an unending dynasty.

We have a democratic system. Unfortunately the electorate doesn’t think so and doesn’t act as one, and the elected representatives also don’t think so and don’t act as one. After 50 years, it seems that everyone, electorate and elected still think otherwise and behave accordingly.

This is uniquely Singapore. And the people are highly educated, widely travelled, but become ‘gong gong’ when come to exercise their right to elect the people that would serve them best. They fear the people they elected to serve them. They elected people to be in govt so that they can live in fear of them.

Is this a joke? Or the Sinkies are a joke?

Kopi Level - Green

CPF Protest Rally - Today is the Day

The CPF Rally is today, 4 pm at Hong Lim Park. Singaporeans who want to know more about what is happening to their CPF savings would be briefed by at least 7 speakers, including Tan Kin Lian, Leong Sze Hian, Vincent Wijesingha, KJ Jeyaretnam, Han Hui Hui, M Ravi and Roy Ngerng. Yahoo reported that Reform Party speaker would be Prabu Ramachandran. He may have replaced KJJ.

These speakers will be talking about the CPF from the people's point of view, like looking at a coin from the other side. The young Singaporeans and those reaching 55 must want to know what is going to happen to their money when they reach 55.

A big crowd is expected today, rain or shine.

Kopi Level - Green

Tiananmen Square ‘massacre’ was a myth

By Deirdre Griswold
WikiLeaks confirms it
Published Jun 29, 2011 2:53 PM
How many times have we been told that the U.S. is an “open” society and the media are “free”?
 
Usually such claims are made when criticizing other countries for not being “open,” especially countries that don’t follow Washington’s agenda.
 
If you live in the United States and depend on the supposedly “free” and “open” commercial media for information, you would without a doubt believe that the Chinese government massacred “hundreds, perhaps thousands” of students in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. That phrase has been repeated tens of thousands of times by the media of this country.
 
But it’s a myth. Furthermore, the U.S. government knows it’s a myth. And all the major media know it too. But they refuse to correct the record because of the basic hostility of the U.S. imperialist ruling class to China.
 
On what do we base this assertion? Several sources.
 
The most recent is a WikiLeaks release of cables sent from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing to the State Department in June 1989, a few days after the events in China.
 
Second is an assertion in November 1989 by the Beijing bureau chief of the New York Times, an assertion that has never again been referred to by that newspaper.
 
And third is the account of what happened by the Chinese government itself, which is corroborated by the first two.
 
Only one major Western newspaper has published the WikiLeaks cables. That was the Telegraph of London on June 4 of this year, exactly 22 years after the Chinese government called out the troops in Beijing….
 
They knew the truth in 1989
 
The New York Times knows it’s credible. Their own Beijing bureau chief at the time, Nicholas Kristof, confirmed it in an extensive article entitled “China Update: How the Hardliners Won,” published in the Sunday Times magazine on Nov. 12, 1989, five months after the supposed massacre in the square.
 
At the very end of this long article, which purported to give an inside view of a debate within the Chinese Communist Party leadership, Kristof stated categorically: “Based on my observations in the streets, neither the official account nor many of the foreign versions are quite correct. There is no massacre in Tiananmen Square, for example, although there is plenty of killing elsewhere.”…
 
The full article can be found at : http://www.workers.org/2011/world/tiananmen_0707/

Kopi Level - Green

High-Frequency Trading Models Under FCA Scrutiny,

By Lindsay Fortado and Dave Michaels
June 4 (Bloomberg) -- Britain’s market regulator is
scrutinizing high-frequency trading algorithms to ensure firms
can suspend operations at short notice and aren’t abusing the
market, its chief executive officer said.
 
The Financial Conduct Authority is monitoring firms across
the industry to understand “the risks associated with the
development of algorithms for use in high-frequency trading,”
Martin Wheatley said at a conference in New York today….
Mary Jo White, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission, told lawmakers on April 1 that the agency is
conducting “a number” of enforcement investigations that focus
on high-frequency trading and automated trading strategies. The
regulator has also said it’s conducting a broad review of equity
market structure and may make changes to the way investors trade
stocks.

European Union lawmakers approved legislation in April that
will create some of the toughest rules in the world for high-
frequency traders. The limits include standards meant to keep
the price increment for securities from being too small,
mandatory tests of trading algorithms, and requirements that
market makers provide liquidity for a set number of hours daily….

“Essentially what we have now in the U.K. is a mix of
exchange-led monitoring, with the regulator analyzing risks such
as cross-market techniques on the one hand,” Wheatley said.
“On the other, industry itself reporting suspicious activity,
so the challenge here becomes a shared one.”
 
My Comments: The American and European regulators are putting on a show but not doing much. The important thing to know is that the regulators knew that HFT is unfair trading and violating the rules and regulations of the exchanges, but they still allowed HFT to operate.
This is as good as knowing a crime but closing an eye to let the crime to be committed. They are both condoning a criminal act and should be prosecuted for allowing it to go on.

Kopi Level - Green

CPF Life and Medishield Life – Two life savings schemes

The CPF Life and Medishield Life are two of the greatest insurance schemes thought of by the Govt. The two schemes help to solve two of the most costly and serious living problems of the people, one to have money to live during retirement, and the other to have money to pay for medical bills that could make the HDB millionaires bankrupt even after selling their flats. The people can now live in peace, sleep in peace because of these two great schemes.
 
How much more would it cost if these two schemes were private insurance schemes? The three most important cost of private insurance schemes are commissions for the agents, bonuses for the over riding top management and profits. Oh, there is another cost, operating cost, marketing cost and overheads. With the two compulsory schemes, the cost must be very low as there is no need for much marketing, and lower operating cost as everything can be computerized under one roof. There will be minimal marketing and sales staff that private insurers would need.
 
Without the insurance agents and their overriding managers, this middle man cost would also be removed. And without the profit motive, the premiums could be really low, to cover just the necessary. Tiok boh?
 
How can private insurers compete in operating cost against compulsory insurance schemes offered by the Govt? These savings can easily be worked out and must be quite substantial. I am not an expert in insurance, but people like Tan Kin Lian could easily show us some numbers between private insurers and the CPF Life and the coming Medishield Life for comparisons. Say if the private insurer is charging $1k, by removing the agent commission, overriding commission, marketing, sales, profits, etc, how much should the net number be?
 
A compulsory scheme surely need not have to pay commission and profits and high marketing and sales cost, no middleman cost and NO profits. So, how much are the CPF Life and Medishield Life premiums compare to those of private insurer’s, apple to apple? Or are the premiums the same or the difference marginable?
 
No savings from economy of scale? I will be damn if the premiums work out to be similar. I will fall off my chair if compulsory schemes actually ended up paying more.

Kopi Level -Green

Ai Weiwei - A Chinese Inquisition necessary for China to move forward

Mypaper published the thoughts of Ai Weiwei on 5 Jun rebuking China for not wanting to face its troubled past. With 5000 years of history, there are a lot of ugly past that China would have to confront. Fortunately Ai Weiwei spared the readers the agony by limiting China’s past to the era of Communist China. He went as far back as the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen Square Incident. In his view, unless China accounts for the wrongful past, it cannot move forward and would be bugged by a credibility crisis.
 
‘China has chosen to forget, or to allow forgetting – an attitude the West will find hard to understand. This provides China a way to liberate itself from self criticism, as well as a heavier moral burden.’ From the idealistic point of view, from an intellectual point of view, I fully agree with Ai Weiwei that it is good for a nation and a people to face up to its ugly past, do some critique, appease the conscience and move on to a higher plane.
 
What bothers me is his deference to the West as if the West is superior in not forgetting their ugly past, that the West was an epitome in facing and criticizing their sad past. 
How much did the West live up to this fairy tale expectation of Ai Weiwei? The genocide of Red Indians, the slavery of the Black Africans, the oppression of Asians, particularly the Chinese migrants, how much were these episodes really discussed and reflected by the West to clear their conscience? But these are too historical, too ancient to talk about. Okay, what about the wars of lies in Iraq and the oppression of the Islamic countries, regime change all in the interests of the West under the guise of democracy, freedom and human rights? Were these discussed, or were they not as they were not seen to be wrong or ugly? What about colonialism and the butchering of natives in the name of civilizing them? Were they really discussed in the West?
 
But the West moved forward with no trouble at all, with no sense of guilt, with no heart wrenching spasm, soul searching to want to liberate themselves from their ugly past.
 
Japan too had moved forward with no remorse to the cruelty and barbarism in the Second World War. Or does Ai Weiwei believe that Japan has repented, critiqued its Imperial past? Of all that I know, Japan has white washed its gory history that the young did not know what their cruel forefathers did in Asia. Or Japan is suffering from a crisis of credibility for not confronting their past and not moving forward? The Japanese are trying to rewrite history, no comfort women, no Rape of Nanking, no massacres of natives in China and Southeast Asia, no Unit 731….
 
Ai Weiwei is a modern Chinese intellectual, very well respected. I think he over respected and overrated the West and their white washing of their ugly past. The West did not suffer from amnesia. Any amnesia is selective amnesia, intentional amnesia just like Japan. Or it is because the Asians and Chinese have amnesia about western history of conquest, genocide and oppression?
 
Countries moved forward whether they take the effort to confront their past or not. Did the West confront the Inquisition in Europe, the massacre of pagan natives and non God believers all over their colonies? Many in the West, if not most, have conveniently chosen to forget their ugly and uncomfortable past. Many Asians chose to believe that the West did not have any ugly and uncomfortable past to confront, some out of ignorance, some out of idealistic adoration, and some out of stupidity.

Kopi Level - Green

CPF Protest Rally – 2 days to go

Roy Ngerng has made a difference. With several million CPF members with their money held back by moving goal posts and ingenious new schemes and totally hapless about it, Roy Ngerng has come along to take up their case with the Govt. In the course of doing so, Roy is now facing a defamation charge connected to this cause and may face bankruptcy and an obliteration of his career choices here. And Roy is only 33 years old.
 
Many Singaporeans have come forward to put money into Roy’s hands to defend his lawsuit. Many Singaporeans felt that they owed it to Roy to make a stand, to back him up financially, to protect him from bankruptcy. Many will be at Hong Lim Park this Saturday with their Ovaltine and biscuit tins of money to hand over to Roy. They knew that the damages can be prohibitive and more money is needed to help him ride over this rough chapter of his life.
 
On record, about 1,200 people have contributed to Roy’s legal fund. That is a small drop compared to the millions of CPF members affected by the changing rules of CPF to their dissatisfaction and detriment. Would these Singaporeans step forward to show Roy that they appreciate what he is doing by attending the protest rally this Saturday? Or would they be the pathetic Sinkies, none of my business, let someone else fight for them and pay the heavy price by being on the wrong side of the political equations?
 
Professor Christopher Balding, a foreigner, acknowledged that he was writing from the safety of being afar. Roy is here challenging the Govt and will risk facing whatever the Govt can throw at him. There is no shelter or protection. The only thing that can protect Roy is the people, the people that Roy is trying to speak on their behalf. The saddest thing to happen is for the people to leave Roy in the lurch, it is Roy’s battle with the Govt. Nobody asks him to do so.
 
How many people would be obligated to Roy to want to go to Hong Lim this Saturday? How many would just ignore Roy and go about life as if it does not concern them? Would the people, the CPF members, close rank with Roy? Or would they abandon Roy when he needs their support and confirmation that he is doing the right thing and they appreciate it? It will be a sad day and a big disappointment if the grounds of Hong Lim were half empty this Saturday afternoon.
 
Would the Singaporeans help Roy to make a difference to their CPF savings? I am not sure how many CPF members will be there. But the international media would be there for sure.

Kopi Level - Green

Tiananmen – Digging up the ugly past

The US and of course the UN, demanded that China gives an account of this ugly incident that happened 25 years ago, June 4, 1989. Many students died in a student uprising in Tiananmen Square when the army and tanks moved in to quash the protest for democracy in China. The memories of the dead students are deeply etched in the minds of those affected and involved in the protest. This chapter of China’s history would always be remembered with a heavy heart in the political struggle of a new nation rising on its feet after centuries of decadence.
 
What would happen to China today if the student uprising was successful is a moot point. Would China be more prosperous or thrown back many years in turmoil is any body’s guess. No Chinese would speak kindly of this event, not even those in power in the CCP. It was nothing to be proud of even though it was deemed necessary given the dire situation. Who is good enough to judge this incident?
 
Such incidents of violation of freedom of the people and the mass killing of innocent civilians would and must bring shame to the perpetrators. Tianamen is an old would and some people may ask why should people be harping about the past? Let the past be history and let the wounds heal.
 
No, the Americans, the most righteous nation, the defenders of human rights, freedom and democracy, would never allow such acts against human beings to go unforgotten. It must be brought up for an airing annually no matter how long to embarrass the Chinese leaders and to put pressure on them.
 
What about the atrocious act of fabricating a false charge of WMD against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq that let to the murder of Saddam Hussein and his families, and the killings of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis? Are these violent and wicked acts to be condoned? Should the US and the UN be demanding for a proper account of why the US, the UK and the Coalition of the ‘Willing’ invaded a country, destroyed its infrastructure and economy and killing and wounding hundreds of thousands of innocent people based on a lie? Should those evil leaders, under the pretext of freedom, democracy and human rights, be allowed to go free, no need to answer to their crimes against humanity? And this event happened only 12 years ago, not in the historical past. Why are the Americans and UN completely quiet about such atrocities?
 
There is a more evil event in the not too distant past, during the Second World War. The abominable crimes associated with 731. Unit 731 was a Japanese concentration camp tasked with the job of testing and developing chemical and biological weapons of mass destructions. Thousands of Chinese, Koreans and Russians were used as guinea pigs by the Japanese monsters to test biological and chemical agents. Many were cut up alive, with no anaesthesia, to gauge the tolerance of human suffering from pain. Pregnant women were dissected in the same way to remove the babies and subsequently dumped into the rubbish heap to die. Chemical and biological agents were injected to the human guinea pigs and released to the cities to infect the population as experiments.
 
What did the Americans say about it? What did the UN say about it? The US was in fact the biggest beneficiary of the experiments conducted in Unit 731. They made a deal with the chief scientists and Unit Commander for his freedom from war crimes in exchange for all his knowledge of chemical and biological warfare information. The evil scientists were set free and the US kept all the records of the cruel experiments. Should the UN and US demand the US to account for this drastic deal and for the Japanese to pay for this crime? NO! They happily kept quiet about it, not to be spoken again.
 
The recalcitrant Japanese monsters went one step further. Instead of regretting their sinful and criminal acts against humanity, instead of apologizing for the crimes conducted in Unit 731, instead of bowing in shame and remorse, they did the opposite. They were proud of Unit 731. The rejoiced what they had done in Unit 731.
 
In a recent photograph of PM Abe visiting the Japanese Air Force, he was seen sitting in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft, smiling widely and jubilantly. And the aircraft had 731 markings in bold on its side, together with the proud face of Abe. The Japanese never regret their barbaric acts of WW2. They cherished those moments, those cruelties against their suffering victims.
 
Would the US and UN demand Japan to account for their crimes in Unit 731? No? No need to dig into the past? The crimes against humanity conducted by Unit 371 were many times more brutal, savage than Tiananmen, crimes against human rights, freedom and democracy!
 
The UN and US cannot be so hypocritical to demand China to account for Tiananmen when their shameful invasion of Iraq and the murder of Saddam Hussein and his families go unnoticed. They cannot keep silence about Unit 731 and support Japan as a country of peace and to be the peace keeper in Asia and ignore such horrific cruel acts against the human kind.
 
Don’t dig up the past? Why Tiananmen and not Iraq or 731?

Kopi Level - Green

Where are the political parties when the people needed them?

The Hong Lim Park protest this Saturday is led by a young man with no political affiliation yet but with the support of many CPF members who want their money back. Would there be any political party showing up with their leaders and supporters to stand side by side with the people in this protest? Would any political party think they should seize the opportunity to champion the cause of the people?
 
Would it be funny that no political party thinks they should be supporting the people when the people needed them most? Or would it be a case that since it is not the initiative of any political party, then they don’t have to show their support. Let the people go and fight for themselves?
 
What would the people say when these political parties come knocking at their doors asking for their votes in the next GE? What would the people say to these political parties and their leaders? Would they simply ask, ‘where were you when I need you most?’ Or would they just show them the middle finger and slam the doors?
 
What are the political parties thinking? Would they be seen to be abandoning the people?

Kopi Level - Green

Japan is worthy to be peace keeper?

Chris D Nebe, a senior German gentleman, a film producer, has made a film on the truth of Diaoyu Islands. ‘Diaoyu Islands: The Truth’, is made by Nebe using his own money. He was not financed by anyone to produce this film but out of a sense of justice and fair play, to tell the truth.
 
Anyone thinking that the Japanese are decent people must watch this short movie by Nebe, the link, http://youtu.be/7w7rgl95Ft4 , before making up his mind. Look at the historical facts, the millions of Chinese that were killed, the hundreds of thousands of Koreans, Pinoys, Indians, Australians, British and the Americans that were massacred by the Japanese.
 
View this movie and help yourself to make an informed judgment. People ignorant of history will only make a fool of themselves.

Kopi Level - Green

The biggest protest rally at Hong Lim

This Sat, 7 Jun, a massive rally is expected at Hong Lim to protest against the retention of the people’s life savings in the CPF. “Return our CPF” or "Return Our Money" is the war cry of many grandpas and grandmas and also from the young. For the grandpas and grandmas, they have not much left in their CPF but still money to them. For the young, the fear of a few hundred thousand dollars of their savings being retained by the scheme is sending shivers down their spines.
 
The CPF issue gained prominence after a young blogger blogged about it and is being sued by the Prime Minister for defamation for his allegation of mismanagement. Roy Ngerng, an otherwise nondescript health worker, is now in front page news in the social media. International media have also picked up the trails and are likely to be present in force this Saturday as well.
The furious effort of the people in pumping money into the pocket of Roy to pay for his legal fees and damages has taken everyone by surprise. The initial shock of facing a lawsuit from the island’s top defamation lawyer representing the Prime Minister must have put on a lot of stress on this young man. The surge of support by the masses has in a way alleviated his fear and renewed his confidence in his cause to tell the story of the CPF savings scheme.
 
More than $80,000 has been raised in 5 days through crowd funding and with more coming in. It is a cause that affects every citizen, young and old, and touches their hearts. They are going to turn up in full force this Saturday at Hong Lim.
 
Would other political and non govt organizations stand up to support this cause kickstarted by a young blogger inadvertently? The issue is not political and transcends all political parties and non political parties. Would they rally their supporters to support a young man championing the aspiration of the people to want their money back? Or would these organizations stay away as if it is none of their business?
 
Political parties in particular would strike out to the estates and walk the streets to ask the people for their support and votes during election campaigning. The people now need their support in this case. The people may not be knocking at the doors of the political parties. But they are expecting the political parties to come forward to support them. Political parties that failed to answer this call, thinking it is none of their business will have no reason to ask for the people’s support in the coming GE. This is a reciprocal act. It is also something that political parties have been shouting, to fight for the people’s interests. Now it is time for them to show that they are indeed fighting for the people and to come forward to stand, not behind the people, but with the people on this cause.
 
When the political parties called for support from the people, the people answered. The people are now calling, would the political parties answer or would they hide in their little corners and ignore the people?
 
Would there be a massive turnout this Saturday when the people are marching in front in the protest, leading the protest? Where are the political parties and the politicians? So far not a whimper is heard from them except for KJ Jeyaratnam who would be one of the speakers on Saturday. Would the political parties fail the people?

Kopi Level - Green

Daft Sinkies’ thoughts on CPF

With the pending lawsuit against Roy Ngerng and the protest rally at Hong Lim this weekend on the people’s savings in the CPF, what is the daft Sinkies thinking on this issue? Many are crying foul and demanding that they get their money back, they want their life savings back at 55, no more funny and unintelligent excuses. What would the rest of the world be thinking, would they be puzzled, mouth wide open, eyes popping out, at the thought of the people’s life savings being held back and to be decided by the govt on when and how much they could take back?
 
Here are the thinkings of some Sinkies. Some are still questioning if the CPF savings are indeed their money. And they need a minister to say yes, it is their money. And they feel so relief in hearing that. Can you believe it, Sinkies saving a life time, putting their hard earned money into a saving scheme and not sure if the money is theirs?
 
And some even said, it is gone, treat it as a tax to feel better. To this kind of thinking, by not acknowledging that it is their money, by giving up, they will feel less painful. It is a kind of resignation, a kind of capitulation. Can you imagine that daft Sinkies could think like that? And the money is no small sum, hundreds of thousands of highly valued and desired Singapore dollars, that many in other countries could feel very rich and could live on for a life time.
 
And some take consolation, or maybe really feel it, to be exhilarating, jubilant, when they see the string of zeros in their CPF statements, feeling so very rich.
 
And some are still hurriedly putting in more cash into their CPF savings to feel richer, to enjoy higher interest rates and to feel secure.
 
And there are some odd balls protesting and wanting their CPF money back. They are rejecting the 4% interest rates for no interest. And they are not only contributing money generously to a young man to make their feelings felt to the Govt, but will attend in force in a protest rally this Saturday at Hong Lim Park, the Speaker’s Corner, where no permit is needed to hold a protest, just a simple registration of intent.
 
Would the media report on this strange protest and the strange behaviors and thinkings of the daft Sinkies? Maybe the world’s media will report this incident as a comedy, an uniquely Singaporean thing that would not happen in any country, people protesting to have their life savings back. The whole world may have a good laugh at the daft Sinkies if they come to know what the protest is all about. This is going to be front page news material for the world media except ours.
 
How can daft Sinkies be not a joke?

Kopi Level - Green