ge round 22: nkf saga

khaw boon wan is confident that he can defend the nkf saga if the opposition raises it as an issue during the general election.. he said singaporeans are not stupid and know who are the good guys and bad guys and who 'allowed' the all the facts to be exposed, and who saved nkf. when the rally is in full swing, i am sure he will be made to tell the full story of how it started, who brought in durai, who nurtured and supported him, who allowed him to go to the extend unchecked, who praised him and glorified him, and who think he did no wrong. in normal circumstances, after the laying out of facts and all the right things and good things were said, the people can expect to be told to close the case and move on. but in an election, it is not so simple as that.. the people might not be stupid.. the people might be well read.. but the people are people.. and they can choose what they want to believe and who to believe.. they can even choose to believe the sensational.. do i mean that they can believe falsehood? they could.. and they could believe in anything.. a fiery and articulate speaker can change everything. and then they go to vote.. if the people choose to believe white is black or is grey, and they can, the nkf saga can lead to controversial results.. it is easy to turn a bad case into one's favour when one can say, 'it's over, let's move on.' and the critics have no means of reply and could not do anything. in an election rally, the opposition can have their voices and objections heard.. that is a major difference.. so it is not that easy to paint a beautiful picture when both sides can add in their strokes and colours.

ge round 21: one party rule is good

raymond lim told his grassroot leaders that simply having opposition in the govt has no absolute merit in itself.. this is a fair statement.. having an opposition in parliament is not the cure for any govt.. the opposition has to be of substance.. then again, to dismiss the need for an opposition in any govt, democracy or totalitarian state or a dictatorship, is a simple recipe for horror, for the abuse of power.. not that we are having these problems now.. but it will make it so easy to go down the abyss.. for any political system to endure the ravages of time, it has to have in built systems of checks and balances.. the checks and balances must be institutionalised.. and that is what the american system is all about.. the flaws and dangers of absolute power were the preoccupation of the founding fathers of america and they have enshrined in their constitutions that no one, or no one organisation, is to have absolute power. this is wisdom of the ages.. to ignore this and tell people that a one party system is good, is being very shortsighted and dangerous. singapore needs to have oppositions in the parliament.. the judiciary, legislature and the executive arms, and the civil servants must be able to work independently when it needs to.. these must be institutionalised and be a sacred feature of our nation.. if we are to accept that just because at the moment we have a fairly decent govt and leadership, then this model of a one party govt is good forever.. and that is a good reason to strive towards a one party govt... if we ever do that or reach that stage, we will ruin our own future.. the future generation will suffer from our folly. much as there is no absolute merit in having opposition mps, there is no absolute merit in having a one party rule..

genting international, a casino giant

genting international's $5 billion package for the marina casino makes many people salivate.. how could a little casino operator afford to fork out that kind of money in a single project, and all private fund.. not money printed by the govt.. lim goh tong is standing tall against the american and international giants in his bid for a stake in the budding casino industry in singapore and the region.. and his bid is practically all from his own group of companies.. unlike sands and harrahs or mgm who share the cost with local property developers.. this is what individual enterprise is all about.. the wisdom, the foresight, the hard work, the business acumen and a little luck and plenty of guts to put in the money, mainly his own money. no govt to nanny or to pull all the strings. the only thing bad about lim goh tong is that he is one of the statistics that provide the impetus for the 9th malaysian racist economics plan.. his assets, and the few like him, will add to tip the scale in favour of the non bumiputras as if all non bumiputras are as rich as him.. and the ambitious bumiputras all wanted to be like him or at least have his wealth by telling the govt how to take it from the country.. people who cannot create wealth or did not have the knowhow or willingness to slog for it will find the money that they grabbed without sweating for it quickly slips away.. wealth creation and making money is not simply ask and be given.. or perhaps yes, ask and be given but be lost in no time. that is what the 9th economic plan will try to do.

diplomacy of flirtation

it is reported that the usa might have to back out or amend the nuclear arms deal with india.. looks like the solicitation of rice in india and indonesia may be stopped in its path and bush's diplomacy of flirtation is off.. this wild gambit of sleeping with your potential enemies can only come from a desperate regime that cannot find a better way out of the corner it has painted itself into.. the grandeur plans of an empire is cracking up.

ge round 20: no one is left behind

yesterday hsien loong said the govt to press on to make sure no one is left behind as singapore progress.. and the purpose of the workfare bonus as reported, 'the bonus, which rewards regular and productive work bythese workers aged 40 and above...' and people working odd jobs will also be regarded as productive, not minding the fact that their work is not regular.. then those full time housewives, whose work is regular, are not considered productive and will not get any workfare bonus. is there anybody left behind when a whole army of full time housewives are written off as not productive?