Concept of country, defence and conquest

The British came, took over the island as theirs, set up the administration and gave all the good jobs t their people. The locals were allowed to do their own businesses but the administration and control of the country were in the hands of the British. They had taken over. And to protect themselves and their interests, they sent in their soldiers, army, navy and air force were all here.

The locals might be employed to work for the British as cooks, clerks, peons and drivers. The women could work as maids, the amahs. That was how things were when the country was taken over by foreigners. They enjoyed the plum jobs.

The Japanese too wanted the island for themselves. They sent in their soldiers. The British tried to defend their interests with their soldiers but lost and the Japanese took over everything. The Japanese were the new owners and ran the country for their Emperor and people just like the British did. All the good jobs in the govt and businesses were in the hands of the Japanese. And there was a new order of things. They owned the country and people.

The locals continued to find their own ways to make a living if they could. The good jobs went to the Japanese. The locals could become clerks, translators, drivers and peons. The women could work for the Japanese as maids and comfort women.

After the war, the locals got wiser. Why let the Japanese or British run the country and took all the good jobs for themselves? They fought to take back the country so that they could give a better life to the locals, give good jobs to the locals, to control the country and their own destiny, be in charge and distribute opportunities and wealth among the locals.

A country was born, called Singapore for Singaporeans. A military force was formed, with conscription for NS to protect and defend the country and its people from foreigners, to protect our way of life, our good life and good jobs for our people called Singaporeans.

Fast forward 50 years, more than half of the residents are in the country are foreigners. Many have very good jobs, some being paid millions. Many Singaporeans lost their jobs for a simple reason, publicized and acknowledged, they are not good enough and their jobs should rightly go to the more talented and deserving foreigners, regardless of nationalities. The Singaporeans only got themselves to blame when they allowed the policy of hiring foreigners and giving foreigners good jobs, and telling the Singaporeans you are not good enough so it is your business. The locals must compete with the foreigners on a level playing field. So what if this is their country? So what if they are the citizens and the foreigners are foreigners? So what if they served their dues as conscripts to defend the country, our way of life and the good jobs for the people?  The last point many people have chosen to forget and ignore.

And the foreigners are here, inside the country, enjoying the good life, good jobs, and protected by the conscription armed forces. The foreigners need not be like the British or Japanese, to build a defence force and pay for it to protect their good life and good jobs. The conscripted soldiers will do the protection so that they can live here, have a good life, and good jobs. Dunno to call this outrageous or idiocy? Why would the daft Sinkies allow this to happen and think this is a natural order of things?

The foreigners have no need for an invading army like the British and the Japanese to conquer the country to enjoy the good life here, to enjoy the good jobs here, and some even in positions of authority and power.  They are invited here for the good life and the good jobs. What about the locals losing their good jobs and their good life to the foreigners? Who cares?

Whose country is this? This country belongs to everyone here, including the foreigners?  We will celebrate this change of ownership or the privilege of enjoying good life and good jobs in Celebration SG50.  Come one and come all to party, citizens or no citizens, sama sama.  Is there a need to redefine the meanings of conquest and control of a country? Is there a need for an army if the country can be occupied by foreigners to enjoy the good life and good jobs while the citizens have to make way for the foreigners? Can a country be taken over by foreigners without a war?  What if 70% or 80% of the populations are foreigners or new citizens? Does it make any difference? When would we call a country being occupied, taken over by foreigners, foreigners enjoying good jobs and blatantly cheating and discriminating the locals like apartheid, a country lost?

What is happening? What do you think? Is this your country?

PS. The British and Japanese seized our country, good jobs and good life for themselves by force. Now the foreigners are invited in to do that and to cheat and kick us around under the myth that they are more talents and here to help us.

Najib versus the indestructible Mahathir

Najib is on the defensive and looking very lame. No one could resist an attack by Mahathir. Many had fallen, including Prime Ministers and every one of his heir designate deputy PMs. Could Najib be an exception and survive this final onslaught of Mahthir? At his growing age, this could be Mahathir’s last battle before calling it a day and could be his biggest battle to date. Winning this battle is looking like a cake walk. Losing it, if it ever happens, could bring an end to the Malaysian legend.

What is left in the armoury of Najib to take on Mahathir? Najib could count himself lucky that his cabinet is still with him except for a handful waiting to see his downfall. But this situation cannot last for long if he can’t pull out a jack rabbit from his hat and turn the tide. When cornered and no way out, the only thing to do is to strike back hard and die together, forcing the attacker to retreat.

I thought Rosmah could be Najib’s trumph card. The most powerful and influential woman Malaysian ever had. She is so quiet. This is very unusual knowing her reputation. What is she thinking or planning to save her husband and beat Mahathir at his own game? Mahathir has always been the aggressor, the attacker. He has never been on the defensive, being attack and on the defensive. He is looking like a flawless politician that his enemies could not find any traces of flaws to wave in public.

What is Rosmah doing about it? For sure she is not going to take things lying down. That is not Rosmah. Mahathir, watch it. This could be more than you can chew.

There is another card that Najib could possibly use. This is presently under lock and key. Would Najib unlock it and throw it at Mahathir? Yes, this card is behind bars, the Anwar factor. Anwar was heard to have many boxes of documents to prove against Mahathir when he was on the receiving end. He did not have the chance to use them when Mahathir prematurely quitted his post as PM. If these boxes of documents are there and hold interesting and damaging information against Mahathir, they are something that Najib may want to lay his hands on.

Are these boxes of documents real and still there? If not, then Anwar would be a spent force and best left forgotten. Would Najib make a deal with Anwar and join forces to take on their arch foe? Is Anwar dead and gone or would this be his last chance to get back to the centre of Malaysian politics? Would he be able to do what he wanted to do against Mahathir and now with the support of a standing PM in Najib, the job could be much easier.

Malaysian politics are full of intrigues and plots and counter plots. How would this final battle of Mahathir against another PM turn out? Great drama and Hollywood material.

China intervention in market rout

China was forced to intervene in the stock markets following the recent sell down, wiping trillions of dollars from stocks and with many late entries suffering painful losses. The first day of intervention was quickly reversed and the rout appeared to continue to run to the abyss. China went in with more restrictive measures yesterday and for the moment has temporarily halted the fall and turned around with the biggest one day gain of 5.8% in the Shanghai stock market.

The measures introduced include halting trading of 50% of the stocks and forbidding big shareholders to sell their shares. Investigations are going on to look at malicious trading that contributed to the plunge in the market. Though the measures avoided a free fall and more losses, some market analysts as usual have started to express concerns about state intervention and not allowing market forces to do the damage.

What are these market forces? There will be the natural herd instinct, the panic buying and selling of investors at any sign or news that would affect stock prices. What is more dangerous is the collusion of big players, big funds, working in tandem to drive prices up and down at their callings. These are not the innocent market forces. These are big market manipulators. They operate as a wolf pack and reap great profits from the innocent small investors.

All the western modelled stock exchanges that allowed big funds to trade in them are faced with this risk of wanton manipulations. How can this be classified as market forces? These are not your normal investors but bandits that used their muscles to muscle in and out of a market like a bull in a China shop.

The only way to counter and prevent these big players from destroying a market and the wealth of small investors is to have a counter force in the form of govt intervention. It is only fair. Only silly govts and stock exchanges would think that govt intervention against these big forces is unacceptable and contrary to the operation of market forces. How can such big players and their irresponsible modus operandi to reap huge profits at the perils of small investors be allowed to run freely and unrestrained and be regarded as fair play, as market forces?

All govts and stock exchanges must have an instrument and even war chest to counter the destructive nature of the big players. Otherwise they are just being irresponsible and unfair to the small investors, like giving a licence to the big players to go for the kill, with their approval.

The Chinese intervention in the stock market is the right thing to do to prevent a very unfair and unlevel playing field. But what is important is also for the regulators and govt to manage a bubble and not allow a market to go wild. When a huge bubble is formed recklessly, the result will be a rout when the bubble is pricked. The Chinese govt must not let irrational exuberance to repeat again and for the present, how to unwind and deflate this bubble without causing too much damages. It was stupid to allow the market to run amok in the last few months and think that it was normal.

The volatility in the Shanghai stock market is not over yet and would take quite some time for the market to stabilize at a lower level.

Don’t leave home without it (part 2) – Free Shuttle Service

Tuesday night’s epic train breakdown involving two main lines is something to ponder. 250,000 commuters stranded, frustrated, angry and got their evening messed up, late appointments, late dinner, late for everything, some missing them altogether.

In my first article on the same subject, I recommended that every commuter should lug a folding bike in case of a train breakdown. What about Free Shuttle Service? Isn’t that meant to ease the problem and congestion when a train breakdown occurs? This Free Shuttle Service sounds so pleasing and the cure all for such a situation. I have one experience of it and knew how effective it is on paper, or how ineffective it will be in a real situation. All I can say is that the effectiveness of this service is as good as not having it. Let me explain.

The logistics of this Free Shuttle Service just does not work. The meticulous planning of this service will not improve much as there are so many variables going against it. For a start, a simple play with the numbers will throw this emergency service haywire.  250,000 commuters at one go, how many buses will be needed? Would there be enough roads to allow the buses to pick up the passengers? What if there is an island wide power failure and all the lines went kaput at the same time?

The other problem is the people, the MRT staff, the bus drivers and the commuters caught in a breakdown and wanting to go home. The easy part is the station staff. They can be trained and briefed on exactly what to do, where to direct the commuters to the pick up points. This is as easy as ABC if the staff gets their regular briefings and not once in 6 months or a year.

Next the bus drivers. This is tricky. The standby drivers are not always the same and the stations they will be sent to will not always be the same station. They could be called to Woodlands or Tampines or Redhill. How are they going to familiarize with the routes to take when every incident is unlikely to be the same, and the standby driver will also not to be the same? What will happen is that you will have different driver going to different places to pick commuters using different routes. The only solution is to go robotics where everything can be programmed. Without robotic drivers, no standby drivers would be familiar with the location and the routes.

The commuters will also be a big problem. Everyone is new and would not know where to go to take the correct bus to the next destination. They will be unfamiliar with the pick up points and which bus to take. They would not know which route would the bus take and where to drop. How to brief 250,000 lost and unorganized crowd to direct and control them to the right pick up points and to take the right bus is mission impossible given the limitation of time, space and equipment.  And the space around the pickup point would not only be too small for the crowd but also for the buses to wait for them.

A one station breakdown may still be manageable. But more than that or in a situation like Tuesday or worst scenario, the Free Bus Shuttle Service is completely ineffective.

Don’t leave home without it. Have folding bike will travel. This may be a realistic solution if only the bike can be put in the pocket or backpack. Free Shuttle Service anyone?

Redbean Soup serving anytime soon

Everything is settled and the book is in the process of being printed. The printer has promised to deliver by 15 Jul or earlier, which means at the latest early next week.

There will be 54 articles as planned but not 200 pages. My intent was for 200 pages and I had to remove several articles earlier to fit to size. The printer has somehow redone the layout and squeezed the text all into 132 pages, very compact. I should have put back the articles I removed earlier but it would delay the completion date further. Inexperience makes a big difference. Will learn from this and not to repeat it in the next few books in the series, if the sales are good and I get to publish them.

For those who have ordered the book, I will autograph them and mail them to the addresses given. Anyone who need to make any changes, please email me at redbeansg@yahoo.com. For those who ordered multiple copies, please let me know how you want them to be autographed.

The book should be available by next week latest. I only print a small limited copies, for those who have not ordered, please make your orders asap as it would be on a first come first serve basis.

The book is recommended reading for politicians of all parties, colours and stripes as well as civil servants and uniformed services. University students and those taking their A and O levels will find it helpful in their  GP and English papers. And all Singaporeans who are interested in the affairs of our country, the book will set you thinking about what is going on and how things should be.

Cheers
Redbean

PS. Printer said the book will also be available at the National Library. I think this is a standard requirement.

Shanghai and Hongkong stock exchanges, a time to learn the hard way

The recent run up in the Shanghai and Hongkong stock markets and the tumbles they took in the last few days are exactly the kind of things they should be wary of and to avoid at all cost.  It is elementary, set pieces that do not need much intelligence to know that it will crash.  When PEs are too high, when there is irrational exuberance and a big bubble, what would you expect?

The high manipulation of stock markets, when the big boys are able to use their war chests, working in cahoot as a gang, to drive up and down markets, are dangerous to stock market operators and small investors. The big sharks are there to gobble up everything, including the bones if they are left free to do as they liked.

The Shanghai and Hongkong exchanges have been under tremendous pressure by the western manipulators using the excuse of liberalization and non interference as the new international norms of exchanges, to allow them to do as they pleased. Both exchanges should not be seduced and conned into allowing these international financial bandits to run wild in their exchanges. They should not forget the basics of a stock exchange and proper supervision to stop wild manipulations of the market.

The most dangerous things to come, and they are knocking at the doors, are derivatives and computer assisted tradings like algo and HFT. The former is anything but rigged gambling and the latter is simply unfair trading. Both are crimes against the innocent investors.

Take heed, learn from the current upheavals and steer a path that is fair and sustainable for the growth and proper functioning of stock markets. Do no allow the stock market to be turned into free wheeling casinos under the full control of these financial bandits. They are very destructive and will drive stock markets to their early demise. Never allow the bandits a free hand to do as they pleased.

A good example is the Singapore stock market. It still does not know what is going on or in a state of denial.

NTUC to help PMEs to be competitive? MOM also in the picture

‘Speaking at the launch of a Master Class series by NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) last Friday (3 Jul), NTUC Secretary-General Chan Chun Sing told the audience that NTUC is keen to help Singapore professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) improve their skills and widen their networks so that they can compete better on the international stage.

“As our economy transforms, more and more of our people will be in the PME sectors, and (it) is also NTUC’s job to make sure that we help our PMEs remain competitive and stay ahead of the competition,” he said.

I copy this paragraph from an article in the TRE titled, ‘Chan: NTUC to help PMEs compete internationally. And my immediate reactions were, what was he smoking, where did he come from? Does he know what is happening on the ground? Does he know what he is saying?

Our PMEs are losing out to fakes and cheats and foreigners with dubious qualifications from funny universities. Do they stand a chance competing internationally? It is like unable to compete in a pond and wanting to compete in the ocean?  What is this e2i magic? Is it recognisable by the world, better than degrees from top universities?

I am dumbfounded.

The comments following the article said it all. And all I can say is ‘笑话’, he can’t be serious? Or is he trying to say competing with international talents here?

Swee Say appears to have a better grasp of the problems. He is going after companies with a poor Singaporean core. The MOM is going to scrutinize the employment pass applications and the qualifications of the applicants. Fakes and forged degrees will not be tolerated. IDA please take note. There are several other measures Swee Say is doing that may work, some temporary like stop gap measures, but generally he is looking in the right direction.

It is discrimination and fakes, stupid. Unless these two devils are pulled out with their roots, every measure will be superficial and will be seen as a gimmick to appease the people in lieu of the GE.

What I would like to see is a 3 month amnesty for all the fakes and forged degree holders to resign and go home. After this grace period, the MOM would go down hard on fake degrees, degree mill degrees and forged degrees. Anyone caught will be subject to heavy fines and imprisonment. The heavy fines are needed to crawl back the amount of dubious salary earned from their crimes. And they could pay directly from their pockets or sell their properties. Many fakes and cheats have already sunk roots by buying into properties here thinking that the MOM would not be looking into history as they have been here for a long time and their trails have been well covered. Fakes and forged degrees are just that and have to be combed and removed no matter how long they have been here and hiding under a thick layer of new legitimacy.

And to mean business, all organizations with 200 staff and above must employed Singaporeans as their HR managers to ensure that govt policies are not swept under the carpet or just paying lip service and mugging around with the numbers and distortions.

Is Swee Say up to it to implement serious and real measures to rid this scourge once and for all? If these two evils are removed, there is no need for the NTUC e2i training to compete internationally. There will be plenty of jobs awaiting our very own PMEs. PME unemployment rate only 2.7%? Who’s kidding? What about giving up searching or underemployment?

The foreign cheats and fakes are watching. So are the Singaporeans. Any half baked measures, half hearted measures, and wayang for the sake of the GE would stand up sorely like a sore thumb. The govt, the MOM and Swee Say need to regain the trust of the people and not be a joke to the foreigners, thinking they can continue to cheat them like before, silly buggers didn’t know what is happening and so easy to con..

Let’s see what Swee Say and his MOM will do to up the stake.

Notable quotes :Lee Kuan Yew 1984 National Day Rally

'Every thing works, whether its water, electricity, gas, telephone, telexes, it just has to work. If it doesn't work, I want to know why, and if I am not satisfied, and I often was not, the chief goes, and I have to find another chief. Firing the chief is very simple.'

Changing times and changing ethos, work ethics and expectations.

Amos Yee – A few pertinent questions

'The psychiatrist who conducted the court-ordered evaluation of the youth at the Institute of Mental Health, Dr Cai Yimin, is also Emeritus Consultant, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health.’ This is extracted from a post by Andrew Loh in TOC.

The first question many have been asking is the need for someone to be remanded in IMH for a suspected case of Autism Spectrum Disease which is not a mental illness. Is this the case for all patients suspected of ASD to be locked up in IMH and in Ward 7? Or is Amos Yee the first such suspect to be held in IMH?

The second question is the time needed to make a thorough test on Amos Yee to determine his condition? Does it need 2 weeks to do so? As the final finding has shown that the psychiatrist had found Amos to be normal, no mental illness, was this conclusion made at the end of 2 weeks or the result was known earlier?

If Amos Yee was found to be normal earlier, would it not be the duty of the examining psychiatrist to remove him from IMH at the soonest possible? Isn’t it right not to keep a normal person a day or an hour or a minute more in Ward 7, a place used to hold serious mental patients?

When was Amos Yee diagnosed to be clean and normal and when was he removed from IMH Ward 7? Is there anything wrong to keep him a minute longer in Ward 7 when he should be moved out as quickly as possible?

Don’t leave home without it

The senior citizens may be thinking of their pioneer generation cards as the most precious item to be carried along wherever they go. The young may be thinking of their credit cards or their latest mobile phones. This phrase of ‘don’t leave home without it’ has taken on a new meaning.

Last night we witnessed the most serious MRT breakdown when the two main lines, North South and East West went down at the same time at evening peak hours. The frustration and anger and the increasing perception of an unreliable public transport system are getting to the nerves of the commuters. Despite so many assurance and compliments of how well the SMRT has done, how much money has been invested to improve the system, the breakdowns are not going to stop and are getting more serious. The image that comes to many people’s mind is the 6.9m or 10m population that the people have been daily prepared for.

Now with this crippling failure of a public transport system that commuters had taken for granted for the last 3 decades and now seeing breakdowns as a new normal, would there be a rethink about our ability to live with a population more than the present 5.4m? Are we up to it or just trying to psyche ourselves that we can do it when the incidents of breakdown are saying otherwise?

Lui Tuck Yew must have run out of expletives to apologise to the people on every breakdown. He might as well have a pre recorded speech to broadcast inside the train whenever a breakdown occurs. And he should also set up a permanent Committee of Inquiry to investigate on train breakdowns with such frequencies.

As for the commuters, they must be prepared for it as well. Forget about the free bus services when a break down occurs. They are not prepared for it, badly organized and too little to cope with the huge numbers of commuters needing to be dispersed as quickly as they could. How many buses would be needed to move the commuters? And how many commuters know how the free bus service system works? The MRT staff is just as good as blur about the bus service and they have great problems handling the crowd.

What is the best solution? It may be a good idea for every commuter to carry a folding bike with them. This is going to be the most effective and reliable tool to cope with the train breakdowns. They can simply unfold the bikes and zip away quickly.  And with the Singapore Made Aleoca bikes at very affordable prices, it should not be too much of a strain on the pockets.  For the richer Singaporeans, they can flaunt their Brompton bikes in the train to show that they are of a different commuter class, carrying the Rolls Royce of folding bikes in the train.

Yes, don’t leave home without it. You will need it more frequently than you think. And it will help the MRT to manage the crowding problems in the stations. And no need to be so blur and lost on which free bus to take. We need to help ourselves and help the MRT. It is our responsibility and our problem to take care of ourselves than to add to the mess and jams at the stations.

But before you go and grab that folding bike, check with MRT which models are acceptable. I know the Brompton model is definitely ok, but not all folding bikes can be lugged into the train. You will be stopped by the MRT staff if the bike does not meet their criteria. Maybe Lui Tuck Yew may want to offer some vouchers to the commuters to buy the folding bikes. Or maybe some kind of subsidies as the commuters are trying to help MRT with the breakdown and crowding problems. Or MRT may want to go into selling folding bikes business as this is an important tool needed by commuters now.

What do you think?

Najib is the man!

Many people must have underestimated the strength of Najib to stay on as the PM in the face of attacks from so many quarters, from Mahathir, some royalties and also from his own UMNO. And with the 1MDB assuming such a high profile in the politics of Malaysia, most PMs would have crumbled and resigned, but not Najib.

Najib is still hanging on with no signs of throwing in the towel. And he has good reasons for it. Some of the heavy weights in UMNO are staunchly on his side, supporting him and prepared to take on his critics. Ahmad Hamidi, Hishamuddin, Khairy and a few others have spoken up to show support for Najib. The initial signs of a break with Muhyiddin calling for an investigation have fizzled out.

Many would think that with Mahathir taking on the role as cheer leader, there will be a fall out and many UMNO leaders would cross over and take on Najid. For the moment this is not happening. Najib is hanging on and with UMNO appearing to be strongly behind him.

Mahathir must be wondering what is happening. This Najib is turning out to be a tough nut to crack. And Najib has a trumph card in Rosmah. She has not shown what she is capable of doing to protect her husband yet. This is the time when Rosmah would be called upon to prove her mettle against the old fox. She may dig out some dirt about Mahathir or his children to share and divert the attention away from Najib. And Mahathir will have to spend time covering his back.

It is still too early to tell if Najib will survive this crisis. As long as the UMNO leaders are closing ranks to stay with him, it is not easy to dislodge him from office if he does not want to bow out.

This is another big battle to watch. And quite fortunate for Najib that the PKR is also having problems of their own and would not be as formidable as a united front to mount a challenge at Najib.

An unsustainable formula with unsustainable policies to match

In the late 70s the formula was already in place. There was this common saying, if you are 40 and have not made it, it’s over. For those who have made it, they are at the top of everything, in career and status and income. Many young scholars in this scheme were CEOs here and there, permanent secretaries, generals and ministers.

Now a bit of reality.  At 40, at the top, earning top income, what is going to happen to them when they are 60, 70 or 80? For this group of aristocrats, their career cannot end there and then. They will continue to be relevant and continue to get more and more pay. Somehow there will be positions or appointments available for them. And there will be many coming after them to join the club. And membership to this exquisite club will grow and grow, and at the same time their income will grow and grow. Mind you, once in the club, everyone is earning millions and more, with no caps.  Sustainable?

The problem is that this group does not disappear like their parent’s generation. They don’t die at 60 or 65. Their lifespan is going to hit 80 and more. How to feed their growing income that has no caps? How much is needed to sustain this group of elite?

As for the ordinary Singaporeans, if by 40 they have not made it, most will not, they are going to hit the wall. Many will start to lose their jobs. Many will become unemployable, unwanted. Many will have to retire prematurely. Many will try to make ends meet by whatever job they could laid their hands on, underemployed is better than unemployed, they consoled themselves.

For this group, 60 is a defining moment, a defining age. It is time to take stock of their miserable savings. Some still think that they could survive without knowing that there will be another 20 or 30 years ahead to live. How many can afford to live on their savings, dwindling and eating up by inflation at a frightening rate, to last another 20 or 30 years? How much is needed to survive 20 or 30 years without an income but a little savings?

The bulk of the aristocrats is being sustained by the gravy train, a big group and growing rapidly. But the crowd of retirees, the average Singaporeans, is going to grow out of proportion, to live to 80 or more, but with no jobs and no income.

How sustainable is this formula of a longer lifespan without any income? And for those with enormous income, where is the money coming from to sustain their growing incessant appetite for more? They are at their peak at 40, at the top of their career and income. But their income will keep peaking every year, unrestrained. There is no limit to how much they want to be paid or expected to be paid.

How fortunate are those in this aristocratic class? And how unfortunate will be those not in this aristocratic class?

Amos Yee – When a mother fights back

I have written this article before the judgement was out. It may be belated and over taken by events, but some salient points are still relevant. The unrestrained ruthlessness of a group of people in their persistence attack on the mother and son is a manifestation of how much evil and wickedness are existing in our society. These people are so vile, so devoid of human decency and compassion. And they are let lose by whoever behind them to persecute the mother and child as the right thing to do, with no sense of guilt and remorse for their hideous acts speak a lot of what they represented and how dangerous life can be if this group of people are in politics and in power. They are simply inhuman.

Here is my article.

 

The vengeance of a mother fighting with claws and nails cannot be under estimated. Mary Toh, an unassuming mother, a school teacher, is faced with an uphill task to save her son being locked up in a mental hospital, not because he is mentally sick but for an unpalatable youtube posting.  The mother is desperate, in despair, calling on the power of heaven and earth to save her son.

While she is crying hell, there are evil people laughing at her desperation, continue to condemn her son, wanting her son to mete the worst punishment possible, and also ridiculing her, cursing at her for not bringing her son up well. Suck wickedness is so widespread, among the unthinking young, the politically aligned adults and the selfish individuals that care for nothing but their self interest, is so despicable.

Mary Toh is fighting back with all she got against all odds. She is alone without the resources to fend for herself and her son. But she is not alone. Thank God there are a few good people out there standing up and standing beside her to fight a losing cause. They are not letting up in the face of defeat. Sadly, defeat they will get. Everything is stacked against Mary Toh and her few supporters standing on shaky ground.

Where are the good men and women to come to her aid, to help her save her son? Where are the international organizations that could give her a lift, to level the playing field? A few have stepped forward but in vain. The writing is on the wall. The son of Mary Toh is going to get it.

Would the world say sorry to Mary Toh and her son? What has that got to do with the world? Would the people of Singapore do something for Mary Toh? Are there any good men and women brave enough, feel strong enough, to give this mother a little helping hand?

Would Mary Toh cry in vain?  No one thinks it is right and noble to step forward to help this hapless mother fighting to save her son?

Maybe only divine intervention is her only savior, when all human spirit fails her, letting a poor mother to stand alone, pleading for mercy for her son.

Where is humanity? Would anyone hear her cries and lift her up from her bended knees? All I can hear is humiliating laughter of smugness, scorn, condemnation and ridicules…for the mother and her son.

I am feeling so ashamed. Do you?

Amos sentenced to 4 weeks jail

SINGAPORE - Teenage blogger Amos Yee has been sentenced to four weeks’ jail, backdated to June 2. This means he will be freed today (July 6).
The hearing for his sentencing was held this afternoon.

The above is quoted from Today online

This is a very tough young man, to take so much of thrashing for so little that the did. Glad that he stays strong till the end and did not go mad or die in the mental hospital.

Abe a man of peace or war?

Many idiots still believe this man is a man for peace. Look at what he has been doing. The first thing and most important thing he is doing is to tear away Japan’s pacifist Constitution. What is this pacifist Constitution? It was imposed on Japan after the defeat in WW2 for invading countries in Asia by the Americans. Japan is forbidden by the pacifist Constitution to conduct war. And Abe is tearing this away, for peace, a man of peace? This is the Hitler of the 21^st Century!

What else is he doing? He has been sending Japanese navy to engage in military operations under the guise of peacekeeping. He has been encouraging the Philippines to take on China and openly announced that he would support the Philippines in a war with China. He is joining the world’s most belligerent country in war games!

He is proposing to change the pacifist Constitution so that Japan can go to war in aid of the Americans, not just to defend Japan when under attack. According to Robin Harding in his article in the Today paper titled ‘Quest to revise pacifist Constitution could cost Abe politically’, he wrote, ‘Abe’s goal is to pass laws to reinterpret Japan’s pacifist Constitution, allowing it to exercise “collective” self defence. That would let Japan come to the military aid of an ally such as the US, instead of merely defending itself.’

The changing of the pacifist Constitution will give Japan the green light to conduct war all over again. It would pave the way for the invasion and destruction of Japan by its arch enemies in Russia, China and the Koreas. These countries were invaded by the Japanese and have many unsettled scores to settle. And they are now more powerful than Japan individually and a combined force of the three countries would easily lead to the dismantling of Japan once and for all and for the good of East Asia. This menace of war would be forever crippled and not allowed to do any more harm to any Asian countries.

This is the fate awaiting Japan should Abe be successful in his belligerent policies and tempting fate, that Japan is good for another go at war. He simply got intoxicated in the past glory of Japan and the legacies of his father and grandfather thinking that he could redo what they had done and succeed to build a Japanese Empire. Abe would bring total destruction to Japan and the Japanese as a free and proud people. A defeated Japan by a combined force of Russians, Chinese and Koreans would be a nightmare they never dream would happen or could happen but would happen. The balance of power is no longer in Japan’s favour.

Whither Japan under the Asian Hitler in Abe? The naiveity and recklessness of this man is unbelievable. But he has a lot of hawkish Imperialist minded Japanese that want to go along with him, to push their luck one more time.

At the moment China, Russia and the Koreas are still sleeping and Abe is taking the initiative to build a military alliance for his aggression in the region. The three countries must wake up and take seize the initiative, join forces to clip the wings of Abe and his Imperialist ambition. If they don’t do it, they will have to pay a heavy price for appeasement against this new Hitler in the making.

What kind of Singapore do you want?

Someone is suggesting a 10m people island with everything futuristic, everything beautiful, like everything is free, filled with beautiful people unlike the type of people we have today. The future of Singapore is a city of young and vibrant Singaporeans, healthy, good looking, good smelling, forever young and will never grow old and will never die. And yes, everyone will be smart, no duds, no morons.

Or can there be another alternative, like a 3m population, with a lot of space for everyone without having to stress the little things, without having to squeeze oil from rocks, squeeze more out of everything, where life is more leisure than pressure, like living in a pressure cooker?

Is a 10m population the only way to go forward? And is a 10m population a static thing and all population growth ends at 10m? Is Singapore’s meaning of existence is to fill up this piece of rock with more and more people? And keeping the population at 3m means disaster, no growth, no progress, no good life and no anything?

Shall Singaporeans be happily looking forward to a futuristic city, living high in the sky and below under the earth? And such quality and stylish living will be free or how much will it cost to live in such a city? Will people like cleaners, security guards and taxi drivers be able to afford to live in such a fine city? What about the retirees with no income? Can they also afford to live in such high quality place?

Or would there be like dungeon like sewerage tunnels for those who cannot afford to live high up in the sky, or in good class bungalows on earth, on stylish caverns  underground?

Singapore Botanic Gardens – A UNESCO World Heritage

Singaporeans must be very happy that they had achieved another great title for working so hard to make the Botanic Garden a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Everyone is now so proud of this Garden. But when credit is due it must be acknowledged and rightly go to the people that worked so hard to make this happened. What is the name of the founder of the Gardens? According to Wikipedia, ‘The first "Botanical and Experimental Garden" in Singapore was established in 1822 on Government Hill at Fort Canning by Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore and a keen naturalist…and Lawrence Niven was the first Superintendent and landscape designer….Henry Ridley became the first director in 1888….Professor Eric Holtum pioneered orchid hybridisation and became the director from 1925 to 1949.…. from 1942 to 1945, Hidezo Tanakadate (田中館秀三), a professor of geology from Tohoku Imperial University, took over control of the Singapore Botanic Gardens and the Raffles Museum.’

The present Director is Nigel Taylor. In between then and now there is a long list of British Directors overseeing the growth and development of the Gardens like the British have never left Singapore. In this garden they are still in charge. And thanks to their contributions, the Garden is now a World Heritage Site. And the British would likely be here for a very long time as there is unlikely to be a local that will have the talent and skills set to run the Gardens for another century, unless Tharman thinks it is time to train a local to take over in 10 years time. We really cannot do without foreign talents running the show.

I have another reason to feel happy and relief that the Gardens have acquired this status and also for the presence of the British in managing the Gardens. Without the British, the 74 hectares of Gardens could be history. How could such a valuable piece of landed property be left to waste in the hard of the city, the choicest real estate in the island? Imagine how much it would fetch, how many good class bungalows could be built on it, or how many thousands of 50 storey condos could be built on it?

Let me do some mental calculations, 1 sq ft is $3,000. Multiply this by 50 times for a 50 storey condo, it would mean 1 sq ft of land could fetch $150,000. A unit of 1,000 sq ft would be $3m and a condo of 50 units would be $150m. You can keep on multiplying and the numbers would drive one to nuts.

It is simply crazy to leave this piece of real estate as a garden. How can we afford to do such a thing? We need space and good land for 6.9m or 10m people! As a developer, this is really too good to be missed, and a lot of revenue for the govt too.

Thank God, this piece of real estate is now safe and sound. No one can touch it with its UNESCO status now. But don’t be too sure if a rogue govt is in place in the future, or a dictator takes over the island. For now it is very safe. Thanks to the foreign talents and the British Empire for this World Heritage Site. May they rule the Gardens forever. They have worked so hard for the Gardens over two centuries.

Tiger Woods – A lame duck without his dad

The golf prodigy, the young man to break all the records in golf’s history, is today a pathetic self and is as good a piece of old furniture in the golf course. His glory days are over the day his dad left him. He thought he could go on on his own steam without his dad. The momentum was there to let him continue to win a few more tournaments in the couple of years after his dad left him. But without the intelligence and discipline of his dad, he is a lame duck, a spoilt kid looking for help, doing things that his dad would not have approved. And his game crumbled to dust. It’s over Tiger.

During his heydays, at his peak when he is in contention for every title his is playing, he listened to some jokers to change his swing. Without his dad to stop him from listening to bad advice, he went along foolishly to change his winning swing. Can you believe that? He changed a swing that was winning all the trophies for him because his wise coaches told him to? His dad would have told him not to do anything stupid like that, do not change unless it is broken. Without his dad, he could not think properly and was led by the nose by ill advice from people pretending to want him to be good, but actually undermining him and paving the way for his downfall.

Today, a few years after his dad was gone, when all the goodwill and measures had been eroded, he could not do anything good, and is looking like a dud. Instead of being at the top of the leaderboard he is first at the bottom. One wonders how the best golfer in the world could become the worst pro golfer in such a short time?

Tiger Woods is still Tiger Woods himself. What is the difference between then and now? He is still working very hard trying to be the best. The only thing missing is his dad. I think that is the main reason why his game collapsed. There is no dad to guide him and protect him anymore. He is on his own and left to live among the sharks out there and they are all there to kill him without him knowing. And whatever little talent he has got, there is no dad to make good of it while jokers around him are leading him to his demise as a has been golfing great of yesteryear.

It is so pitiful to see Tiger Woods in such a sorry state. Everything is falling apart without him noticing. And everyone is still clapping when he struts around in the course. Where has his greatness gone? Or where did his greatness came from?

Good bye Tiger. The time has come to depart gracefully while you still can. There is no daddy there to prop you up anymore, no daddy to look over your shoulders, no daddy to ward off the sharks hanging around to do you harm. You will be consumed by the wolves in sheep clothing.

PS. I thought he would do better than Jack Nicklaus.

Humility – From immortals to aristocrats

We once have to grudgingly live with the idea that there were immortals floating above the plebeians and plebeians needed to know their proper place in the hierarchy of human beans and immortals. Today we are seeing a different kind of humility, instead of floating in air like immortals, they have come down to earth as aristocrats. We are now in the good company of nobilities and aristocracy as highlighted by the comments of Hsien Loong. I thought we are a Republic.

This is what he said, “You want people to stand up, not scrape and bow. But if you don’t have a certain natural aristocracy in the system, people who are respected because they have earned that and we level everything down to the lowest common denominator, then I think society will lose out.”
The comment was posted in an article in the TRE on Tharman’s view on the innocence of youth and the privilege of the young to speak their mind. The author quoted the Oxford dictionary as saying Aristocracy is “a form of government in which power is held by nobility… a class of society comprising of people of noble birth with hereditary titles”. I think some people may have earned their rights to become aristocrats but many are aristocrats by virtue of their noble births. They are born into a life of luxury and nobility and must be respected and accorded the courtesy for being what they are.  Look at Britain and the infamous nobles making a fool of themselves? Being rude to the nobilities and aristocracy by the peasants is something to be frown upon. The former know their special place in society and the peasants also better know their place too before it is too late.
There must be a class distinction between the two classes of people or there will be disorder. As long as the natural order is in place, there will be peace and harmony on earth. Yes, my lord. The relationship between the nobilities/aristocracy and the peasants is more sustainable and liveable than between the immortals and the human beans. Immortals are called ‘hsien’ in Chinese. And being ‘hsien’ they can ‘hsien’ the people for all they like with their magical powers. But nobilities and aristocracy are still human beans except for their noble birth and good fortune. Technically they can’t ‘hsien’ the people like the immortals.
Let’s get use to this new and natural system of aristocracy in paradise. Forget that we are supposed to be a Republic where the country is owned by the people, where the people are the real master of the land. Remember, there are nobilities and aristocracy with their noble birth rights and rightful place in society. And thank God, no more immortals or ‘hsien tao’ around.

No need for so many universities

We used to have Singapore University and Nantah. Now we have University of Singapore, Nanyang Technology University, Singapore Management University, USIM, SUTD, SIT, Yale Singapore Joint Campus and many others in the private sector joining here and there. What is the purpose of so many universities? Is it not the official view telling students there is no need for a university education when such a thought goes against the need for more and more universities?

There is also readily available graduates from the best in the world and the best from the village universities of 3^rd World coming here for our choosing, the so called cheap and good. And there are millions of fakes and those genuine degrees from quality degree mills to choose from. There is thus no need to provide universities for our young when we can get them free from the whole world.

There is another reason why there is no need for so many expensive universities. Why spend so much money building universities with the best facilities money can buy to be filled with foreign as lecturers and non academic staff, practically the whole university staff are foreigners except for the clerical jobs and cleaners. Maybe the cleaners are also foreigners. Where are the job opportunities for the citizens? Oops, we our policy is to hire the best from the world, regardless of nationalities. I remember.

And why build universities staffed by foreigners and to be filled by foreign students and paid by tax payers’ money as well in the form of generous scholarship? Is there a need to spend so much public money doing this? Wait a minute, if the foreign students return home, they will have fond memories of Singapore and when and if they are in positions of authority, they will be kinder and look at Singapore more favourably. There are so many whens and ifs to happen to benefit from this huge expense. Just hope they don’t return with a lot of hate for Singapore and Singaporeans.  

If the universities are built as business concerns to generate economic growth, for more revenue for the state, that is a different matter. If the universities are self sufficient financially, making money from the foreign students and providing good jobs for our citizens, that is a good proposition and is most welcomed.

But if the universities are built with tax payers’ money to feed foreigners as lecturers and staff and to finance foreign students to get their education and we pay for it, what is the point? Do we need to spend this type of money, so much money to hope for some good will and kindness?

Are we really doing these kinds of things with our taxpayer’s money? I hope not. If it is, there better be a rethink and use the money more wisely to invest in our very own children. We are not the Santa Clause to the whole world. We are not slaves and servants to the whole world. We don’t owe the world an obligation to provide jobs and university places for them. We are a small little dot with limited resources. We are not a super power with super power ambition and interests.

Anyone got any figures to confirm that this is or not the case? Anyone knows how much we have spent annually on this inexplicable myth?