soft launch of redbeanforum

hi everyone, you are all welcome to register at my new setup 'redbeanforum' at www.redbeanforum.com or using the link provided at my link column. this blog is a bit difficult to negotiate and to view threads. i hope you will find the forum easier to use. it is using the same programme as the ypap forum, so you will all be very familiar with it. i have transferred about 70 percent of the posts from here over and you will initially see all the postings as if posted by redbean. your user names are all in bold inside the threads. once you start to post in the forum it will quickly replace the redbean username in the forum index. also, you are now free to initiate your own topics. for the time being i have only three forums, singapore current affairs, world affairs and a stock forum. for the latter i will give my input in terms of trading methodologies, rumours and analyst recommendations. i will also provide links to broking house websites. please feel free to go there. this blog will continue as it is though on a lower key. see you there guys and gals.

boon wan the tireless worker

boon wan is amazing not so much in his being a tireless worker. but more in his relentless pursuit to improve the medical services and reducing cost. as a minister, he sets the goals, demanding the civil servants to find the solutions. and that is what a politician should be. tell the administrators what you want that is good for the people. not the other way round. many politicians ended up as administrators and behave like one. some ended up like a businessman running a business and only think about profits. they either allow the business or the administrators to set the goals for them. and they then went about defending the business and the administrators. that is a big failure as a politician, a political leader who is there to serve the people who voted for him. the other point about boon wan is his sincerity and setting himself as an example. he demands or calls for the private hospitals to be transparent in their billings. but before doing that, he makes sure that the hospitals under his charge are transparent first. he will look ridiculous if he demands for transparency of private hospitals but keeping his own public hospitals opague. kudos to boon wan. hey i am praising a minister.

education: listen, ask, think and speak

the formal school education can be broken down into 4 phases. the first is when the children are absorbing knowledge which requires them to listen a lot. with a little knowledge, with their curiosity stirred, they will start to ask questions. both phases are complementary in acquiring and building up knowledge and information. the next phase is processing, the thinking phase. children at high school level are expected to start to think for themselves, think about what they have been taught and form their ideas and find their own truths. the final phase is when they are expected to stand up and take their positions about things, issues etc. this is the maturing phase when they must confidently say this is what i think, what i think is right, what i want things to be. transfer these four phases into parliament, and we at best are only seeing the second phase in play. parliament is still in an infant, only asking questions with very little input, very little thinking and very few taking a stand to say their piece. only rarely would an mp stand up and say this is not right, not good for the people. this is what should be done, what the people want, what is good for the people. the history of parliament is 40 years. and we are not seeing any sign of a breaking away from this asking mode. mps think that they have executed their duties if they ask questions. and they are very happy with that. when will mps take a stand for their views on things? or is this the weakness of having mps from only the ruling party who are not expected to take different stand, and thus unable to speak up for the people? and unfortunately, opposition parties too think that their role is just to ask question. they have learnt the wrong thing i suppose. shouldn't they be speaking up and say this is what we think the people want or is good for the people?

ge round 9: opposition muted

we have heard several rounds of salvos from the pap but practically nothing from the opposition. they could have been very busy mapping out their strategies and the avoidance of a 3 corner fight. there is also this view that they are keeping their cards close to their chest, like what steve chia said. what we hope is that when they start firing, they would not resort to any wild and unfair allegations. let the pap set the tone. so far the pap are banging on their comparative advantage of being the incumbent, the ruling party and with their huge resources to comb the ground. and they are trying to pin the image of a opposition that appears only during election. the second point about sincerity of the opposition is very subjective and can also be asked in their direction. we will have to wait to see how the opposition take their stand.

attacking thaksin developing into attacking singapore

the strongest anti singapore attack came from a prof phuwado songprasert of kasetsart university. he led the attack on singapore/temasek's investments in thailand as if singapore is out to manipulate thai politics, and the politics of asean. such is the possibility of how some groups of anti singapore activists in other countries could do to achieve their private agenda. like it or not, there are always such elements who for whatever reasons, will attack singapore given an opportunity. we have friends, but also enemies hiding in little corners. phuwado even asserted that singaporean investors were disliked in malaysia and indonesia, trying to inflame more hatred towards singaporeans as if it is a norm. if the demonstration does not end swiftly, there is always a high probability that singapore will end up as a dart board. and all the goodwill developed will go to waste and we have to start all over again. we have counted on other countries that could be riled by the slightest reasons, but not thailand. a land of smiles and lesser historical baggages. and so far no one in thailand is trying to douse this flame and incense. would all these turn into a popular backlash against singapore, with demonstrators stoning or storming our embassy and investments? the potential for volatility is always there, and waiting to be fanned into a firestorm.