two sides of the truth

The Straits Times devoted 8 or 9 pages of today's paper on a subject that was shunned during the election. It was taboo to talk about it then. During the election or prior to the election, all the news that the paper were pushing out were 'good news' or feel good news. The economy was doing well, all the data and indices were up, export up, GDP up, trade up, stock exchange doing roaring business, people doing very well, all prospering and happy. And billions of dollars will be given away. And the Straits Times was telling the truth. There is no doubt that all the reports in the traditional meda were all truth. But another side of the truth were kept in the dark, not to be spoken as it was the wrong time for them. So today we are reading the dark side, the other side of the truth. Every page is heart drenching, and tugging at the heart string. How could there be so much poverty and sadness in this land of opportunities? How could people be so happy and every thing so affordable, if not, even cheap like hell, when a section of the population is living in despair? This social disparity must be the fault of those people who cannot keep up with the changes in society. They are the ones to be blamed. If they are not able, or they must be lazy, then they deserved to be in the state they are in. This is the kind of thinking among the smart and able who pride themselves for being so clever, to helping themselves to every opportunities to make all the wealth, and to live in paradise on earth. Let's throw some crumbs at them shall we? It makes us feel so good, so magnanimous, so generous, to shed a few tears, to help the suffering poor. And don't worry if the prices of public transport are going up, or medical cost going up. They are all affordable....to who?

heresy of a single power domination

A world that is dominated by a single superpower, like a country with a single ruling power, is a dangerous place. As a single source of unchecked power, madness creeps in easily without them knowing. Just hear the rhetorics of our domestic politics. During the election and after the election, the terms the ruling single party govt are familiar with are fixing, managing dissent, or making conditional offers or else. This is what an unchecked singular power system will be. And people are 'polite' by not calling these attitudes the appropriate terms they deserved. No one is going to call a spade a spade for obvious reasons. In the international arena, the emergence of China as a power broker is good for all the smaller countries, but for the Americans. It allows the smaller countries more freedom to negotiate their national policies, falling back on an alternative source of counter force in China against the domineering empire of the USA. For that matter, the world will be a better place with Russia and India and the European Union taking centre stage as equally strong source of power to balance a single power world under the USA. A multi polar world is the same a a multi party political system of a nation. The world order has been structured, maintained, and has become the preserve of western powers and their domination since the industrial revolution a few centuries back. How the world should behave, economic, trade and even political systems, must be approved and accepted by the West. And this is the status quo that the Americans and the West are determined to uphold. The rest of the world shall be weak and managed or fixed the way the West wants it to be. China should desirably be a broken up country, poor and disintegrated, and ravaged by the foreign powers, and to be exploited like in the 19th and early 20th centuries. And it is very unbecoming and audacious for China to think of changing this status quo, to break free, to want to decide its own future and to stand up as a respectful independent nation. China must always be subdued and managed as a country and be dependent on foreign or western aid. All the analysts and thinktank reports are based on a perspective of western domination of the world. None of them would want to put themselves on the side of China and see the world in the interest of China. China's rise or gain is their fall or loss. So China must be contained and be a good boy, speak softly with its head bend. That is what a responsible and benign China should be, in the interest of western powers and intellectuals. Much as they want it to be so, it is China's right and national interest to stand up on its own, to build its national capabilities in all fields, including defence, so that it does not have to be manipulated or suppressed and exploited by any country any more. The same kind of interest and aspiration that every nation would want to have. The same as what the USA would want to be as an independent and sovereign nation. Would the rest of the world continue to let the USA dominate world opinion and tell the world what to do, even calling wolf every day, and believe in the American deceit?

The twists and turns of the crooked bridge.

Mahathir More shocks 'Twas Malaysian side which offered to sell 1billion sq.m of sand that could make Singapore 50% larger with 10m population. Blogger kTemoc The above post can be found in Littlespeck.com What is interesting in the post is that Mahathir said that it was the Malaysian side who offered the airspace and sand to Singapore. This is totally different from the press story that Singapore demanded that Malaysia offered airspace and sand to Singapore as part of the condition for building the bridge. Why is Singapore been blamed for something that it did not initiated? And why Singapore did not stand up to defend itself and clear its name? It is strange that Singapore preferred to take the blame and keep quiet about the whole affair. Looks like Singapore was caught in the Malaysian's domestic politics and for goodwill, just let the water flow under the bridge. And hopefully, after spanking us for something we did not do, and gaining a lot of face for it, the Malaysians will quietly say a word of thanks behind closed doors. Isn't politics interesting? The details of the sordid saga is in the blog of kTemoc and can be read in Littlespeck.com. So don't read what is in the press. And don't listen to the politicians. You just don't know what is truth, half truth and lies.

cha hern keng's passion on managing the stock market

I share Chia Hern Keng's passion in pushing for Asian govt to work out some system of intervention in the stock market before another crisis hit us. His reasons are very similar to mine, the ability of huge mutual funds to wreck havoc in any small Asian markets. He contributed another article on this today in Today paper. It seems that lethargy has set in after the last financial crisis. During those dark hours, all kinds of plans were suggested but subsequently put aside when the dust settled. All the dust will settle after every disaster. And all the carnage will be removed and forgotten. Since then, the slow and painful recovery has taken shape while everyone either have gone to sleep or have short memories of those frightening times. And the fruit is just about ripe for another bout of attacks. It is sad and disgusting to know that the more advanced Asian countries who should be taking the lead have lapsed into a stage of self delusion. It would not happen again. Unexpectedly India has rose to the occasion to close down its Bombay stock market for a day under a panic sell down situation. And when it reopened, it gained 4%. And the Indian govt did not stop at that. Investors were assured, and banks were told not to pull the plug with making margin calls and selling off clients positions. In fact banks were told to provide the liquidity needed in such a crisis. And of course, the govt also rounded up the mutual funds to sort out the problems that these funds could create. As Chia Hern Keng said, billions of dollars could move in and out of a market with a few pushes of the button, not forgetting programme selling and buying. 'What would be questionable is a govt's inept response to such a crisis. If a govt just sit back and says all the upheaval and panic going around is just the work of market forces and the result of other countries' economic mismanagement, it is like an army general spouting philosophy when his country is being ravaged.' Chia said. The govts set up stock markets as a business concern for businesses to raise funds, for investors to invest in stocks all for good intention. What the govt did not ask for, and neither did the investors and companies listed in the exchange ask for it, is for mutual funds to push their stocks either way, recklessly beyond logic and fundamentals. And these actions would, if left unchecked, drive a herd down the cliff without them knowing why. The mutual funds are only concerned with their profits, with no responsibility to the destruction of investors or a stock market. And it is sinfully irresponsible for a govt to wipe its hands clean and say it is part of the game and nothing they can do about it. I would like Chia Hern Keng to continue his crusade in this forum if the paper is not giving him enough space and recognition of the severity of the problem.

lonely voice of marina mahathir

She is a champion of a sort. A lonely voice in a world where women are supposed to be wrapped up, unheard and unseen. But she is fighting to be heard, to champion the cause of women in society. She wrote an article on the sentiments and attitude of believers and how they would react when their faiths are questioned. She pointed to the contrasting responses of Christians towards Dan Brown and the Da Vinci Code and the Muslims deadly threats towards Salman Rushdie and his Satanic Verses. Both authors and their books touched on issues that challenged the major doctrines of the respective religions. And the way the believers reacted simply lead the world to stereotype them as either rational or prone to violence. But her main objective is to call for her sisters in Islam to stand up and present another face of rationality and moderation. Would she find enough believers to take up the challenge and shed the shackles placed on them?