“To Preserve and Protect the Honour of Singapore”

Our Sacred Duty to Respond to Threats Made to Our Survival

MIKOspace - Reflecting on:

TREmeritus (3 Jan 2014)

An inflammatory post made on a pinoy’s Facebook account on 3 Jan has an online tsunami.

The post essentially taunts Singaporeans and wishes them ill. A person by the name of “Edz Ello” wrote that he prays for “disators” (sic) to strike Singapore and wants to see more Singaporeans die. He also wants to kick all Singaporeans out of Singapore so that Singapore will become a new Filipino state:

Well, Edz Ello claimed that his Facebook account has been hacked.  He should file a Police Report and also urged Facebook to investigate his complaint thoroughly.  We are a Nation of Laws, and so the burden is on Edz Ello to prove that he did not threaten to “kick out Singaporeans” and “prayed (wished) for Singaporean deaths”, both I believe must be criminally offensive to warrant Police intervention as a matter of normal routine follow-up. 

To our Home Team: There should be vigorous Police screening of his background, beliefs, values, social habits, known associates (Pinoys and others), telephone conversations,  as well as everything that he had touched, eaten, seen, heard or smelled with whom, when and why during the times he has been in Singapore.

Interestingly in the United States TODAY (Mon, 5 Jan 2014), the Court Trial began for one of the 2 Tsarneav brothers who set off two bombs that killed 3 and injured 260 more people at the Boston Marathon on 15 April 2013.  Some had their legs or other limbs amputated. Many are considered “Disabled” today. The older brother was shot and killed by Police when he resisted arrest.  The Tsarneavs were foreign immigrants from Russian Chechen to the USA some years earlier.

Could Edz Ello and his friends or associates be like the Tsarneav brothers?  

A former politician scolded the more than 2,000 Singaporeans who reacted angrily to Edz Ello’s post and chided them as “petty”, “insecure”, “thin-skin”, too sensitive and “easily offended”.  Seriously, Mr Calvin Cheng?

Mr Calvin Cheng, who was a Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) from 2009-2011, would just “laugh it off” when someone (and his associates) threatened “death” and “disaster” on his love ones, friends and family.  Say, Mr Calvin Cheng, Edz Ello even threatened the end of Singapore!  

Well, the Tsarneav brothers in their discovered notes also threatened the United States and death of Americans.  To Mr Calvin Cheng, “a great nation (like the USA?) should just ‘laugh it off’’.  

Dear Calvin, please “laugh off” the Boston bombing with the parents of Martin Richard (age 8); Krystle Campbell (age 29) and Lingzi Lu from China; and the other 260 injured, including the amputees.

Singapore is not just a Great Nation; we are also An EXCEPTIONAL People that provide Exceptional Value to the World, including good paying Jobs for our Neighbours including The Philippines.

Edz Ello‘s words clearly exceeded the meaning of mere “insults”.  They balk at and deny our hard-fought Right to Survive – No Proud Singaporean would “just laugh it off”. 

As a Singapore politician, Mr Calvin Cheng did Singapore the greatest disservice when he trivialized our collective sense of duty, honour and national pride.  As a National Serviceman, he has so easily forgotten that he, like millions of us, had also vowed to “Preserve and Protect The Honour and Independence of Our Country”.  

IT IS THE SACRED DUTY OF ALL SINGAPOREANS, AS OUR HIGHEST PRIVILEGE AND RIGHT OF CITIZENSHIP, TO RESIST AND RESPOND TO ANY THREATS MADE TO OUR RIGHT TO SURVIVE BOTH AS A PEOPLE AND AS AN INDEPENDENT SOVEREIGN NATION.

We can Only hold our heads high as we continually Assert Our Right to Live among the Nations as a Sovereign Nation Deserving of Their Respect, Friendship and Admiration.

Kopi Level - Blue, thank you

Singapore 2015 (1) – The Beginning

Some Ramblings of a 50-year-old Nation

By MIKOspace

In a flash, we will be celebrating our beloved Singapore’s 50^th (S50) Birthday.  For a nation, our history is very brief and yet so exciting and rich for one little boy who lived through this epoch.  Having passed my own half-century a while back, I can understand the festive joy amidst the angst, trepidation and expectations accompanied by our perennial national past-time of worrying about important trivia and inconvenient mundane stuff, punctured occasionally by serious matters of the heart, community and the world in that order.

This Post shall kickoff a series of free flowing thoughts through the events and policies in the past 50 years, before capturing the transformative imagination for our beloved country in the next 50 to 500 years.  

We shall begin, as usual, from the beginning.

9 August 1965 – The Day of Infamy which No Singaporean should Forget.

We were at the edge of our Hope, the end of our Destiny and the Dissolution of our Vision. Earlier, we had fought and won our Battle for Merger with Malaysia.  It was to be our finest victory!  But, it was short-lived.  Looking back to my 2 years as a Malaysian “Singapore” Citizen, I am glad that it was not a very long victory.  I was not even entitled to Malaysian citizenship!  A longer victory would have been very bad for me and millions of fellow Singaporeans.   

It was better this way, Really. The early joy of Merger Victory had been followed by two years of love-hate, bittersweet honeymoon disputing the conflicting visions of a meritocratic, multicultural “Malaysian Malaysia” vs a Malay-dominant, racist, ethnic supremacist “Malay Malaysia”. With no ethnic group then exceeding 50% in the population, a Malaysian Malaysia would have made the most sensible choice, but not to the powerful Malay political elites and their interest groups.  A saline mixture of fresh and sea water would still taste salty, even if we had remained in Malaysia.

The Promised Land of Malaysia two years earlier had turned into a Desert of Acrimony. The Mirage of Mutual Prosperity clouded the Reality of sandy Political Interests.  We could not be forced to drink the sand of political racism to quench our thirst for justice and equality.  And we refused to mistake it for the precious water needed to nurture our dream of Nationhood.

National Day 9 August 1965 – Leaving Our Future Behind

From the Ashes of a Failed Vision, we had emerged more Prosperous, Stronger, more Rugged, more Resilient, more Robust and Independent.  Our RIGHT to Survive with Independent Sovereignty CANNOT and MUST NEVER be compromised or sacrificed. Our Authenticity as a Nation providing Exceptional Value to the World MUST Always be visibly Demonstrated without Any Equivocation.

Our Greatest Moment as “One People, One Nation” was in picking up the Pieces of our young Nation when so Many had written us Off.  We had Believed in One Another when we Failed in our Merger Victory, and we Prevailed.  It is always easier to keep our faith and believing when we are succeeding.

In 2015 as we approach our Jubilee 50 years old, and grappled with new Survival issues, let it not be forgotten that we once had a Difficult Birth, a Risky Delivery, a Vulnerable Existence And a daunting Struggle to continually assert Our Right to Live among the Nations as a Sovereign Nation Deserving of Their Respect, Friendship and Admiration.   

We must continue to believe in Each Other and Ourselves as we march into the next 50 Years and beyond.  Together, our strengths always synergise in the face of Adversity, and we become stronger, more united and more resilient when we trust and depend on one another.   

Kopi Level - Red

Get out of my elitist face!

Tommy Koh, Ngiam Tong Dow, Lim Chong Yah, and several others have been talking about the inequalities and the flaws and faults in our social political system. They are just a few in between, too few to count. They could be the few proverbial black sheep in the pen.

What would be the real thinking in the minds of the elite? By the look of things, they are all thinking alike and all very pleased with the great jobs they are doing and probably congratulating themselves for the millions they deserved to be paid. They worked for them. And what have they done that was so good for the people and country? The daft Sinkies may disagree as their mental capacity would not be able to understand the goodness of the policies crafted by the elite. Never mind, they would just do what they think is right.

The big population drive, to bring in more and more people here, to convert them quickly to be citizens, must be top on the list as an essential policy for growth and prosperity for the people. You want growth or not? Sure you want growth.

With growth, a little inflation is normal. Inflation is good. Without inflation, how to inflate the prices of your homes and cars, the former can be relied on for retirement. These are carefully designed plans and policies, not child play.

Income equality is natural, and good. Must be. How would you expect our super talented ministers to promote policies and income inequality if they are bad? They may be arrogant, but not stupid or clowns as the daft may want to call them.

As for the PMEs losing their jobs, good riddance. They deserved it. They are not talented and still demanding to be paid like super talents. How can that be when millions of hungry and jobless foreigners who can’t find employment in their screwed up countries, are begging to take over their jobs? Just keep quiet, and let the PMEs kpkb until they are no more. Let them be security guards and taxi drivers and be grateful to be working. This country does not belong to them, it belongs to us, the elite.

Our expensive medical and education are expensive because they are the best. You need to pay for quality, there is no other way. And our standards are still not high enough, that is why we need to import foreigners from better schools and with medical trainings to take over the industries and professions. We must quickly raise the cost of education and medical services to keep up with the 3rd world countries or they will take over everything. And that is also good, no choice.

Oh, a little secret, just con the daft that no car is good. Make them believe that they should cycle to work or take our world class super efficient public transport in style. Never mind the smell and the squeeze, by unseen hands. They should be thankful. If not careful, they would be hanging on the outside of trains and buses if the population goes up to 10m and 20m.

It is a must to keep the roads free for the expensive million dollar cars that we elite are driving. We need space to drive in comfort. We also need space for our mansions. The public flats must be built taller, and the rooms smaller, to save on space for us to live a bit more comfortably.

And the best part, not only the elite would be thinking in these terms. The sycophants that are taking public transports, with their jobs waiting to be taken over by foreigners, are also thinking the same. Either they think they could be the elite of the future, or they may be thinking the elite would look after them in times of need. They are feeling really comfortable and feeling very grateful. Servitude is a privilege and an honour.

I must say the above are mere fictions of my imagination. Our elite are very caring and selfless people. They are all working so hard, cracking their brains, to make life better for the daft and the unthinking, on one condition, their good life must not be affected. The rest can be make beliefs but who cares. Their great sacrifices must be worth it for themselves and their families.

I am elite.

Kopi Level- Red

No where to RIP

10 million anyone? At 5.4m, we are already facing the crunch of a different kind. The would be residents going to move into Sengkang West’s BTO flats are getting nervous and furious. They are not going to live side by side to a, though someone proudly proclaimed a state of the art columbarium. It must be an offshoot of our smart cities. You would not need high tech computers with pre programmed timer for the lights to come on and off. The lights would be on and off anytime the residents in the columbarium desired.

Bukit Brown is going in a matter of time. Bidadari is history. How long would Chua Chu Kang remain in service? We are eating up the space used by the wild, the flora and the fauna, and the dead. And you know what, when we invade and take over their place, they are left with no choice but to live among us. And Sengkang is only the beginning. More columbaria would be built in housing estates, more hospices and nursing homes too. They need space just like the living.

Can you imagine what would it be like with 10m living people and the unceasing process of people needing places to RIP? Having columbaria at the edge of housing estate or inside housing estate is anything but peace. They would not find peace like in Bukit Brown or Chua Chu Kang. The living will be creating too much din to make it unbearable to them to rest in peace.

When planning for 10m living, think of the more than 10m gonna to be dead, the dying and the undead. Going home late at night may not be so lonely after all. Does anyone understand why they are protesting and demanding money back?

Kopi Level - Red

Mirror mirror on the wall

How many of you are comfortable looking at yourself in the mirror?  Many people don’t like what they see in the mirror. If they looked on a little long, it is likely to squeeze out a pimple or trying to contort their face to look better. For those who enjoy looking in the mirror, many are deluded to think they are looking at a movie star.

It is quite uncomfortable really to look at our flaws and blemishes. Some choose not to look at the mirror. Some did not even bother to hang mirrors in their homes.

The reason attention on the AHPETC is a case saying that many people did not look at the mirror or did not have mirrors at home. So it is very easy to tell others of their flaws and faults and exaggerated them but not of their own faults. It is not a case of them not knowing that they are just as ugly as the people they are criticising. They simply did not know or did not want to know. Or maybe their friends and fans have been flattering them, telling them how good looking they are. In their deluded state they gained enough confidence to think they are really good looking and can go around criticising others.

Some got a rude awakening when they were shown the mirrors. They could not believe what they saw, just as ugly as those they condemned. I think some ran away, some went into hiding. Some may be reflecting or may consider buying a mirror to look at themselves carefully. It is advisable for them to have a mirror at home. Their friends and fans should buy them a gift, a mirror.

Unfortunately friends and fans are only good at flattering and would not want to say the truth. And these people may continue to think there is nothing wrong with them. A mirror is indeed a very useful object of vanity and also for self reflection. It may make a conceited fool come down to earth and feel that he is just like those people he criticised, sama sama.

Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? Do they sell mirrors to the rich, powerful and vain? Or these people really think that they are so beautiful that there is no need for mirrors?

Kopi Level - Green

Tommy Koh, diplomatically speaking

It is always very pleasant talking or listening to a diplomat if he is worth his salt as a diplomat. A diplomat is one that is trained to say all the nice things and all the right things to make his listeners happy and go away nodding their heads in agreement, at least when it is public speaking. Of course they have plenty to say jokingly and diplomatically as well in private. Since they cannot make anyone angry with their flaws, they make jokes of their flaws to laugh together without anyone knowing that it was a criticism.

Tommy Koh wrote a diplomatic piece on Sat 3 Jan in the ST about his 3 wishes for the New Year. First, ‘to enjoy peace and stability, prosperity, with equity, unity with tolerance, safety with vibrancy and freedom with responsibility…to believe in and practise our core values of hard work, integrity, meritocracy, compassion, racial and religious harmony, gender equality, freedom from corruption and open economy and open minds.’ His second wish is for Asean to continue to be successful and his third wish is for peace in Asia and the Asia Pacific. I would not touch on these two.

No one can disagree with Tommy on all these motherhood statements as they all sounded right and correct and pleasant to the ears. The question, what was Tommy Koh trying to say? I hazard to make a guess of what he really wanted to say or was saying but not saying, or saying indirectly. If he would to say this frankly and directly, would he be saying, don’t take peace, stability and prosperity for granted. There is no equity, no unity, no tolerance and more is needed. And there is a question of safety with vibrancy and an issue of freedom with responsibility. He followed by saying we are not practising our core values of hard work, integrity, meritocracy, compassion, racial and religious harmony, gender equality or at least we need to work very hard to make sure these are not eroded in the future. And also to ensure that we are free from corruption, continue to be an open economy and have an open mind.

Tommy also reminded everyone that we did not start from a poor fishing village or have nothing, no assets, no talents to begin with. He said, ‘we do have three assets: a strategic location, a natural harbour and an intelligent and hard working people.’ Now is he saying that we should not be telling the world that our people are daft and lazy? Our success is a like a miracle and only can come about not with lazy and daft citizens. Then where have the hard working and intelligent Singaporeans gone? Why are we praising and welcoming jokers who cannot make their countries like ours and praising them sky high as super talents to help us to be better? Won’t these jokers be bringing us to the levels of their home countries?

Tommy then turned to say the not so nice thing that is very uncharacteristic of a diplomat. How can he be quoted to be saying, ‘Singapore is, however, not perfect. There are areas in which we can and should do better. (Anyone listening?) I am disturbed by the inequality in Singapore. We have one of the highest Gini coefficients in the world. I am unhappy that many of our children are growing up in poverty. About a third of our students go to school with no pocket money to buy lunch.’ What a revelation!

While he was speaking frankly, he added, ‘I am worried about the growing number of the elderly poor. Many of them are in poor health and have inadequate savings,… living in loneliness,… or abandoned by family and relatives.’ And his other hopes, ‘A politically mature society…which the vanquished are gracious in their defeat and the victors are magnanimous in their victory.’ How more frank can one ask from a diplomat? And he also hoped that Singaporeans would not be too money minded and materialistic. He warned that Singapore ‘is in grave danger of becoming a market society.’

Tommy would not have said these if he is not worried about the trends of development today. Things can be real bad if these concerns are not addressed. But who would listen to the messenger of bad news, even if he is a polite diplomat that no longer could ‘tahan’ being reticent and had to let it off his chest? The only misgiving is that the believers would not see anything wrong in their beliefs and the shepherd would be plodding along happily leading them on the ‘right’ path to paradise, diplomatically speaking.

A few wise men are speaking up. Would they be whipped for being incorrect or undiplomatic?

Kopi Level - Yellow

Distressed PMEs - Return my dignity!

Many PMEs have been sacked, told they were no longer useful and no organizations would want to hire them again. They are left to their own device. Many just resigned to their fate and retired into oblivion. Some swallowed their pride and dignity and took on whatever manual jobs or low level jobs that they could find. Some became taxi drivers and security guards. And these were men that were professionals, managers and executives that run big corporations and MNCs.  These were our local talents that Tommy Koh mentioned in his article today in the ST, the men and women that built modern Singapore. They have been reduced to become unemployable. They have been reduced to has beens. Once we have many local talents, intelligent and hardworking people according to Tommy. Today we have turned into a non country with no talents, no intelligent people and need half bake foreigners pretending to be talents to shit on us. Is that what Tommy was saying?

At least half a million decently paying jobs were given to foreigners, many don’t even have the equivalent qualifications or experience and expertise, many were fakes. And nobody cares. And they insult and bully us daily. The govt is very happy with the situation. We have full employment. The unemployable PMEs are obsolete, it is their fault for not upgrading to new skills like becoming waiters and salespersons.

We need to return some pride and dignity to these PMEs. They have many more good years to go. Many are healthy and mentality sound to continue working in the same jobs or something similar. Why degrade them and push them into the rubbish dumps and replaced them with fakes and half baked foreigners?

The PMEs and many are part of the Silver Brigade needs an existence. They have been defeated by insensitive and callous people and policies. Return them their pride and dignity. Don’t be silly and ungrateful. The govt must form an agency to look at this group of PMEs and put them back into the job market. Many of the good jobs given to foreigners for all the wrong reasons can be given to these PMEs. The govt owes these citizens a responsibility to lead a decent and respectable life. The wayang cannot continue past the next GE. It will be exposed.

Yes, return them their dignity and a place in the main stream of life. The govt owes it to them, not to the foreigners, not to silly foreigners, not to fake foreigners, not to rogue foreigners. Vote them out if they think they don’t have to look after citizens but foreigners. It is so sad that foreigners are walking around like peacocks while citizens are like helpless lost sheep walking around jobless, like zombies. I have never seen so many ex PMEs looking so lost, undignified, dejected, when they have many more good years to live and to support themselves.

Who should be held responsible? Don’t you dare pass the buck to the ex PMEs. These were the staunchest supporters of the PAP in their heydays.

Many PMEs are in the state of ‘keow kar yeo lan par’. You can do that for a few months or a couple of years. When you have to do that for 20 years, it is not funny anymore.

Kopi Level - Green

Sleeping with the Communists

This statement will instantly remind people of the early independence era when the PAP was a party for the western educated elite, the communist sympathisers and the communists. They all slept in the same bed and played together until the open break by the Barisan Socialis and the detention of many political leaders from the Barisan camp in Operations Cold Store in 1963. The notable names like Chia Thye Poh, Poh Soo Kai, Lim Hock Siew, the Puthucherry brothers, Woodhull, Lee Siew Choh, Lim Chin Siong, Fong Swee Suan, Said Zahari still ring a bell in many older Singaporeans. They were the comrades, the friends of the PAP that turned to foes.

In 1987, the announcement of a Marxist Conspiracy and the arrest of a group of young people including some working with the Catholic Church was the lowest point in the deteriorating love affairs of the PAP with the Communist. Tan Wah Peow had fled earlier in 1976 and was identified as the leader of the new Group. Among those arrested were Vincent Cheng, Teo Soh Lung, and Tang Fong Har. Since then, Singaporeans have been living with this Communist spectre till today. Anyone branded as a Communist or sympathiser could face charges and be detained under the ISA. Reading or listening to communist literature was a sure sign of Communist leaning and a sign of trouble. Singaporeans were banned from visiting Communist countries except those above 55 and must apply for approval.

Despite the thawing of relations with Communist countries and the visit of Deng Xiaoping, despite flirting and dining with the Communists in Beijing, and despite paying regular homage and welcoming millions of Communists by our political leaders here for work and for play, something is still missing. Why are our ex Communists and sympathisers, some returned, some never allowed to return, still being held in suspicion, like enemies of the State, like demons and terrorists waiting to turn Singapore into another violent contest for power?

Can they do that, are they in a position to do that, would they do that? Are the Singaporeans still willing to join their quest for a Communist state? Or would the Singaporeans welcome them with open arms, like they welcome the PRC Chinese here and like the western world welcome them with red carpets? When would this stigma or spectre of Communism in our early generations be erased as part and parcel of our growing pains and history? Has anyone noticed that the world has changed and they should wake up and smell the roses? If we can dance and play with the new Communists, can we at least have tea with the ex Communists/sympathisers and treat them as one of our long lost brother or sister, the return of our prodigal sons and daughters? Chin Peng was treated much better by the Malaysians than ours that are still overseas.

Kopi Level - Green

TODAY is The First Day of the Rest of Your Life.

Do Things Differently in 2015.

By MIKOspace

“Insanity is when you continue to do things the same way and hope for a different set of outcome or results.” - Albert Einstein

The season for new Resolutions has come again.  Never mind that countless earlier ones over the years were not executed or successful.  We just love New Year Resolutions, as if their main object did not lie in fulfilling them but to fail in them.  Like promises, some were kept, while most others must fail or be broken.  Seriously, we want to CHANGE, but HOW?

WHY DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE?

For many reasons, obviously.  Mostly from a deep dissatisfaction of the status quo. You do not like your appearance; your career sucks; your boss is not sensitive or understanding; your lack of progress in relationships; have no close friends; no boyfriends or girlfriends; cannot afford that dream car or dream house or dream gadgets; cannot have what other people have; unhappy most times; unloved rest of the time; no one to love all the time; loneliness; depressed; want more of anything; want less of others; don’t like being sick or weak or medicated; having to depend on the unwilling; trapped in an unhappy marriage; stuck in an unhappy home; abused; beaten; hungry; cold; poverty; wars; diseases …. An endless list.

For most people, the reasons for change are more mundane and personal. You want to look better, more desirable and more beautiful. Modern marketing of personal and life-style products makes you feel too fat, or too thin, or too tall, or too short, or facial features non-symmetrical; eyebrows too natural, eyes not at same level, nose not in the middle of your face, your ears unbalanced, one foot bigger than than the other, one leg longer, another arm too short, one hand bigger, mouth not aligned with face, unshapely body, breasts too high or too big or too small or too ‘different’ or not enticing enough … well, look at Nature where beauty emerged and flourished in diversity, differences and NOT symmetry or same-ness.       

Remember you were born an Original, why strive to live like an Imitation?

Yes, Becoming Yourself is to be Different already.  Self-esteem is the best defense against the encroaching forces to make you an imitation of what other people want you to become. 

Truth is, the dissatisfaction with oneself has little and nothing to do with one’s appearance.  It lies in our desire to be loved and to have a lover.  The journey through life is essentially a journey of love.  It is a journey along visible milestones of errors as one struggle to escape the end of otherwise meaningless existence.  One quickly discovers that paradox, ambiguity, chaos, absence and silence as central to the human condition.  

Many lapse conveniently into the comfortable understanding of the human condition as one where we are all in a perpetually suspended state of incompleteness, in an endless search of that elusive Happiness.   The urge for “more” and “better” becomes quickly the justification for the pursuit of selfishness, thinly disguised as the noble accumulation of material wealth and prosperity, in the hope of locating the happiness which satisfies the ultimate true meaning and purpose of life’s existence.  Sadly, but expectantly, “more” and “better” can never deliver the promised Happiness. The pursuit for life’s purpose hence degenerates into itself as the end.

In 2015, Resolve to Do Things Differently – Unlearn, Relearn and Learn to Discover Love and True Happiness.

This begins with a mental transformation to complete the awesome task of becoming your own realization.  Stop occupying space and wasting oxygen, but be the change you want the world around you to become.  Seek only the approval and encouragement of loved ones.  Other people’s opinions do not matter, seriously.  Open an inner Dialogue with yourself and affirm your individual uniqueness and significance.  You also have to acquire the habits to unlearn, relearn and learn – which are the the skills-set of learning agility.

Yes, flexibility and adaptability are the personal tools to engage the human conditions of paradox, ambiguity, chaos, absence and silence.  Affirming yourself strengthens your self-esteem and facilitates the building of close and intimate relationships with those around you.  Self-esteem empowers you to nurture and develop in others a greater capacity for love and for you to receive their love in turn.  When we are at our best self, we readily share without fear or limit to bring out the best in others as well.  Invariably, we also discover and rediscover Happiness at the end of such sharing of ourselves.

Go forth to Love and Share, to Discover Yourself and the Secret of True Happiness. The Secret of True Happiness lies in the creation of Happiness in the Life of Others.   

Kopi Level - Green

Political entrepreneurship is supreme entrepreneurship

Many entrepreneurs are struggling in the very competitive world of business to make their marks and their first million. Some made it eventually but many failed and got lost, became unknown. The casualty rate for failed entrepreneurs is very, very high. We only hear the success stories but no one would want to know the failures.
 
Count the odds, and it is very surprising why many are still struggling to compete with, in many instances, against the best in the world. And not only exceptional talents are needed, some require huge financial resources and risking to lose everything.
 
There is an easier path, lesser competition and could make millions and many millions that is available only to Singaporeans, at least for now before the door is thrown open to the whole world. Entrepreneurship in politics is something so close, and relatively easier knowing the competition, that somehow the daft Singaporeans did not think of venturing into. Let me point out the advantages of political entrepreneurship as a career and as a means to getting rich quick, and maybe more Singaporeans would want to consider this as their top career choice.
 
First thing, it is a multi million dollar industry and the pay for the successful is beyond your imagination. Many became multi millionaire after a couple of years in office. Now isn’t that attractive? And to make it even more attractive, for those with exceptional business acument, money is everywhere and it is only limited to their intelligence to scoop as much as they could in a single term in office. Everything, every policy, can be turned into a money making machine. And it is all done within the law, or the law can be changed to one’s advantage. Perfectly legal, and no need to resort to criminal activities, cheating or corruption. How’s that for a start? Of course there is great temptation and danger of going the crooked way.
 
Then look at the competition? There is really no competition if you look at every one of them. Everyone is just like you and me, many like boy scouts and girl guides. And there is no need to fear big titles as Hougang and Punggol East have proven, Ah Lian and Ah Huat could take on anyone with glittering credentials. All it takes is a bit of organization, getting organized.
 
And what is the start up cost? What is the barrier to entry financially? Very little really. A $15k deposit and some money to buy chicken rice for the helpers. This is unlike the American election where hundreds of millions are at stake. The small stakes involved is like buying Toto, spend a few dollars and hoping to strike it rich. And here the pot of gold is huge. Top price of Toto is peanuts. Once in power, striking Toto is like a monthly affair or better with no odds but guaranteed to win. And these are the known knows. The unknowns are something else. There are the incidentals, just happen to come along with the office and be in the right place and right time, knowing the right people or people wanting to know you, and the right connections. Again, everything is legal and above board. Don’t try anything under the table, not worth it. In fact the system is designed to make it unnecessary and for politicians to remain clean. How nice can it be?
 
And the chances of winning come once every 4 or 5 years, and one can repeat and improve on one’s position and strategy to make the chances betterer. This is unlike the general entrepreneurship in the industries when there is no certainty or predictability. Many entrepreneurs could strive for a life time without getting anywhere near. In politics, every four year there will be a chance to bet, to make that winning kill. And the odds can be 50:50 when the contest is one against one. Think of the chances of winning a Toto bet or a Big Sweep? It doesn’t make sense right?
 
Alright, did I paint an attractive enough picture to make more people interested and turn to political entrepreneurship? And you don’t really need to be a genius. No need to be a professor, no need to be a lawyer or a doctor. No need even to be a super talent. The real qualification is a good heart and be acceptable to the voters, to win the hearts of the voters. No need paper qualifications, but a reasonable one will be helpful. No need to invent the wheel or create a new product or a new app or a new computer game. Are these that difficult?
 
How, there are many political parties out there waiting eagerly to receive the good men to come forward. No need to wait for an invitation for tea. Just knock and the door will be open.
 
Political entrepreneurship is a viable career route and the rewards are very handsome. And for those who really care for the people and wanting to help the less able, to do charity, to show your compassion for the people, even to fake it is alright, political entrepreneurship offers everything for the head and the heart and the desire, and the ego for fame and fortune.
 
Go for it. Opportunities are knocking at your door. Why are you waiting? What is stopping you, to do good for country and people, and to improve your bank accounts? It is a very attractive career choice, and comes with a lot of glamour and glory. Everyone wants to take selfies with you, wants to shake your hand, wants to know you, and wants to be seen with you. You became a political celebrity, better than a movie star.
 
What are you waiting for? Don’t you want to be a multi millionaire? Oh, don't answer yes. Just say you are sacrificing to serve the people. It sounds more correct.

Kopi Level - Yellow

Reflections 2014 – Leave Your Future Behind

“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” ― Joseph Campbell

Seize the Day After Tomorrow

by MIKOspace

Returning to MIKOspace from a 2-month’s break on business and other matters, I am glad to welcome many new readers as well as the many loyal readers who continued faithfully to visit myBlog. Nearly 10,000 page views have been recorded since MIKOspace’s debut on 7 September 2014. Your support has been truly generous and I sincerely appreciate your encouragement.  The last 2 months’ restful and productive break from blogging also provided opportunities to reflect on 2015 and beyond.      

Our conversations will continue over a wide and wider range of topics, I promise. Education continues to top my first loves. The stealthy insidiousness of bogus World Universities Ranking Standards would be engaged even more ferociously. Singapore’s Global Brand of Authenticity and Integrity should never be misused and abused to mask their lack of credibility, validity and reliability. It is my belief that our fine Universities should not participate in lending and associating Singapore’s pristine and impeccable credentials to otherwise fraudulent and bogus standards of dubious criteria as adjudged by the United Nations and Eminent Professors of Education and Higher Learning.   

We owe it to our Founding Generations to be a Nation of Law, and never to cheapen our Reputation, painstakingly built over the past 50 years, in any manner.  

And on our 50^th birthday in 2015, the future course and fate of our Singapore will be put to before the people in a likely General Election with a significant distinction. The decisive vote to determine the fate of Singapore over the next decade and into the mid-21^st Century will rest with an electorate whose vast majority are born after 1965.  They would remember little of the 3^rd World Singapore at their birth, and have enjoyed the rapid prosperity growth of Singapore over the past 40+ years.  Fresher memories instead exist among most younger and new electorate of the increasingly harder and difficult years over the recent 25 years when over-crowding from immigration and migrant workers compounded increasing living costs associated with food, transportation, medical, private housing, vehicle ownership and education together with decreased opportunities for universities admission and choice job opportunities.      

The Pioneer Generation (borned 1949 and before) and Post-Pioneer Generation (borned after 1950) would bring to the 2015 General Elections the active aging issues of retirement, mobility, geriatric care, medical and the release, and possible topping-up, of CPF.  Already some are making a fuss over the CPF.  

The social and national issues that could impact the 2015 General Elections shall be monitored closely by MIKOspace who would enjoin the conversations to enhance the debate quality and factual truthfulness of the discussions.

In 2014, Hong Kong students startled the world with their failed sit-down (with mahjong) protests presumably for more democracy.  I expect these protests to return in some other forms, despite of their lack of agenda, problem definition, credible issues and glaring absence of possible solutions. Democracy in 2014 – Hong Kong Chapter concluded that they therefore failed to garner the popular support of the vast majority of HongKongers to their doomed cause.    

Issues of Tibet and the Dalai Lama as well as Racial Harmony and Malaysia’s Racist Politics would continue to surface, and MIKOspace would continue to assert the truth with pertinent facts and our usual persuasiveness, in our Panorama – Singapore’s Battle for Merger.

Indeed, 2015 would be much more exciting than 2014. Carpe Diem. We must be ready to seize the Day after Tomorrow.  And, as Joseph Cambell puts it, “be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us”.

Thank you, one and all, for 2014.

Have a Great and Bountiful Life Ahead.

Share your Abundance, Respect the Environment and be Compassionate to those who are sick, younger, weaker and older.

Love all, for Love conquers all things and circumstances.

2015 – Would it be the same all over again?

One year has passed. I must have written between 800 to 1000 posts in 2014 at the rate of 2 or 3 posts daily. I don’t think anyone is happy after reading what I wrote, but many would be unhappy for the right or wrong reasons. My apologies, I did not set out to write to make anyone happy. Some may feel sad, some may even get depression after reading my posts.

My objectives are very different. I hope that those who read my posts would at least be questioning what kind of nonsense I was writing. If they bother to ask, to think, to get angry or feel annoyed, to feel uptight, to want to say something or do something, that would be good enough for me. If they agree with what I wrote, good. If they disagree with what I wrote, very good. At least they were listening and have some ideas of their own, to agree or to disagree.

What would be pathetic would be to feel nothing, unmoved or unemotional, just numbness. It could mean that they did not know what I was writing, did not bother, did not want to bother. This is unlikely as anyone that bothered to read my stuff must already be motivated, searching and thinking, wanting to know another perspective of things. My greatest regret is for the unthinking Sinkies to end up like unthinking parrots or tape recording machine. Just listen and repeat or regurgitate whatever that goes into their heads, GIGO. GIGO is a common terminology used in the computer language, garbage in garbage out. It is expected of computers and machine to act like GIGO. It is so sad to have human beans getting this GIGO disease, whatever goes in just comes out, unprocessed and did not benefit them in anyway.

Can you imagine people eating hamburger or roti prata and shit out the same, in the same form, unchanged, unprocessed? The unthinking human body is better than that. It absorbs and processes food entering the body, takes out the useful stuff and only releases the shit. What would happen if the body takes in and releases the same stuff unprocessed? It would be a big pity and a big waste of food.

I would be very glad if people disagree with me and start to form new ideas from the garbage that I posted. The very objective of my posts is to provoke the lazy and dull mind, to make it angry and to start ticking, to elicit some thinking process, to form new ideas and views of what is happening to our country. Not to be led or misled for the wrong reasons or false logic and false truth.

I would likely to be following the same path and methodology, to agitate and to make people uncomfortable and even angry. And hopefully something good comes out of it. It is a bit like reading the Animal Farm. The brief moment of liberation and hope soon turned to drudgery. The only animals that were having fun and enjoying life were the pigs. The readers looking from the outside could see the trickery, treachery and deceit and the injustice on the rest of the animals, a sense of indignation, the same way as reading my blog.

2015 is unlikely to be as peaceful and uneventful as 2014. Hopefully the ideas that were planted in 2014 would bear fruits, good fruits, for the good of the people, to make them smarter or at least thinking people. 2015 cannot be like 2014. 2015 is going to be a very active year, a year of actions and activities with the people taking the lead and not being led.

A Happy New Year to all my friends here. No need any hypocrisy to greet the dogs Happy New Year. It will be a waste of time. Let’s see how many of them will start snarling after reading this New Year message.

While we are greeting the New Year with big hopes, spend a moment of silence for the victims of QZ8501 and their families. 2014 has closed tragically on them and changed their lives completely.

Kopi Level - Green

Resurrection of the Holy Trinity of 3 wise doctors

‘The Sunday Times in a sarcastic editorial on 28th November 1954 on the launch said,
 
“There was a fair crowd at the Victoria Memorial Hall, though fewer than at a performance of an absurd film about a Persian Princess and a shifty barber… at which place a more intelligent dialogue could be heard I am unable to say.”
 
The Straits Times thought the party was a non-starter but they were wrong. By 1959 the PAP had become a major player, thanks to the conviction of the ordinary people. As expected of a new party made up of diverse opinions, it did not take long for the internal squabble to start….’
 
The above paragraphs came from an article by Dr Wong Wee Nam, titled ‘History is bunk’ in the TRE, sought to give history another perspective by a fellow doctor to do justice to three fellow doctors who are living martyrs to yesterday’s brutal politics of survival. Except for Dr Lim Hock Siew, Dr Poh Soo Kai and Dr Chia Thye Poh are still with us, are living testimonies for those who need to hear from the ‘horse’s mouth.
It started in 1954 as mentioned in the above paragraph by Wong Wee Nam, who had seen and lived with the events of the time. There was an official version reported as the official truth and the official history of Singapore’s formative years. There are other versions, like Tan Pin Pin’s movie and now Wong Wee Nam’s testimony of what it really happened.
 
Though there are many versions, very few are allowed to be read by this ‘free and democratic’ state of highly educated citizenry when the paternalistic govt is still acting like a protective father fearing that the naïve little children or teenagers could be misguided by reading different versions of the truth. In a city that 55 years old are deemed irresponsible and cannot be trusted with their life savings, it is a necessary evil to keep the people from reading the wrong stuff and thinking funny with different truths of their history. The official version is the safest document to read and to believe in. Period.
 
Wong Wee Nam also touched on the innocents like Dr Ang Wee Chai, the wife of the late Francis Khoo, who is still banned from returning home except with special approvals. She must still be seen as a threat to national security or a dangerous person that would wreak havoc to the country on her return, like a few others. Wong Wee Nam is calling for a national reconciliation, a healing of the wounds, a kind of national amnesty, for the return of our sons and daughters banished to foreign shores for political crimes. Would his call be heeded by a city of teenagers that never grow up or a bunch of irresponsible adults that cannot be trusted when they are past 55 years of age?
 
Would anyone believe in burying the hatchet to live in peace, to go in peace and to rest in peace so that a national reconciliation can take place? A few words came to my mind, inclusive society, compassion, kindness, we are a family, a nation of people. 2 days to go before the dawn of a new year. Not much time left for it to happen, not much time for a graceful closure.

Kop Level - Green

QZ8501 – Still many unanswered questions

While everyone is saddened by the crash of QZ8501 and griefing with the families, there are still many questions left unanswered. Today’s commercial aircraft are built not to drop down from the sky. Today’s pilots are trained and very experienced before they are allowed to captain an aircraft and would be able to pull out of a spin or a stalled aircraft or guide the aircraft down in case of engine failure.
 
There are very few situations that a pilot or his co pilot would not be able to make an emergency call or squawks when an aircraft is in trouble. Why was there no emergency call?
 
There are a few possibilities why an emergency call cannot be made. One, a disastrous thunderbolt that disabled the aircraft immediately, or at least destroyed its communication system. Two, a mid air explosion. Three, very unlikely, no one was in the cockpit when an emergency developed and no one was in a position to make a call out. Four, a mad and suicidal pilot and co pilot like was quoted in the MH370 case that intentionally desisted from making an emergency call out. There could be a few more other possibilities other than these obvious ones.
 
Now the story waiting to be told lies in the black boxes. How did it happen in a routine commercial flight with a fairly new aircraft? Even if the aircraft developed engine trouble, there will be an emergency call. The pilot would still be able to bring the aircraft to a force landing. Falling out of the sky just like QZ8501 is not normal.
 
The mystery starts now.

Kopi Level - Green