treason in thailand

Treason in Thailand Sonthi said he wanted to take back 'his' assets, or specifically, 'I want my assets back.' But now he had backtracked to say he wanted to buy it back if the Thai public voted to want it back. Now the decision is a nationalistic desire, a commercial reacquistion of the satellites owned by Shin Corp. What happened to his allegation that Singapore was eavedropping on Thai military secrets? If that accusation is true, Sonthi must be charged with treason as an Army general to allow Singapore to continue to do so. He must take immediate steps to take over the satellite operations. Not a day of delay is tolerable when national secrets are at stake. But looks like he cannot substantiate his claims, which means that he is misleading the Thai people of a false claim. There is no such thing as Temasek using the satellites to eavedrop on Thai military communication. Either way, he is talking without much thinking. And even the Thais are getting worried that a soldier that seized power through a coup is talking wildly. And while he is spouting his nationalistic jingoism, he forgets that he has a bigger threat exploding in the south which he has failed to curb. His more important task now is talking about seizure of Thai assets sold commercially to foreign organisations. How long would he go on doing what he is doing, talking and not doing anything to the real problem in the south?

myth 115

Myth 115 The blind myth As a kid, I used to play in the backlanes. I used to see two professional beggars counting their daily collection in the privacy and quiet of what backlanes used to be. One is blind and the other with a limp. The limp was the more superior of the two, with the advantage of sight. Standing behind him I watched him shared the collection with the blind. '$1 for you and $1 for me.' he said as he placed one dollar in the palm of the blind and $10 into his own pool. And this went on and on, 'One dollar for you and one dollar for me' until all was counted. Of course the limped was more generous and any balance will be given to the blind. And the blind was happy as he could not see a thing. But was he really that blind, I wondered?

no deals under threats

No deals under threats It is good that Singapore did not offer any forms of aid during the current flood in Jakarta except for one or two organisations that thought that helping ingrates are ok. Now the moronic leadership is showing what they really are, tribesmen donning on modern day suits and pretending that they know how to behave in the international stage. They wanted to use threats and pressure to coerce another nation, maybe small, to sign a treaty that can be subject to more moronic abuses? Singapore should just call off the talks and wait for another century for civilisation to return to Jakarta before talking to them on diplomacy. And Singapore shall always remember that cavemen do not get civilised overnight and cavemen antics of using the clubs to clobber their neighbours is something that they must be prepared to live with. But definitely not allow itself to be clobbered and also not be an eager beaver to please. You just cannot please primitive cavemen.

Water is a precious commodity

Water is a precious commodity

Singapore has been showered with so much water from heaven. In the last couple of months we have only seen water and water everywhere. And so much of this Godsend gift only see its way into the longkangs and into the sea. What a waste.

This only brings back memories of the repetitive campaigns on the merits of saving water. Water is a precious commodity that should not be wasted. And to inculcate this wisdom into our people’s psyche, water was priced very much more than it costs to keep a tight rein on people wasting water.

Of course this also has a lot to do with the supply. We may have four taps flowing. But one tap is going to close in a matter of years and very unlikely to be replaced for all kinds of reasons other than good economic sense.

So over the years many zealous and good spirited people and organizations popped up with great ideas and devices to help the people to save on their expensive water bill. We reinvented waste water into drinking water which we proudly called Newater. Personally this is not the brightest marketing idea. They should have called it ‘organic’ water and could fetch a higher price for it. Organic is cool and healthy and good for the system as compared to synthetic water. It may even out priced spring or mineral water.

We also have companies manufacturing little timble devices to be fitted into the tap to reduce the flow of water, thus using lesser water per sec of flow. And the cisterns were either made smaller or large plastic bottles were thrown in for the same objective, to use less water.

All these are not enough. Car washing by spraying loosely from a water hose was discouraged. People were also taught on the virtues of showering, and saving water, instead of soaking in the bathtubs. And showering becomes an art in a sense. How and when to turn on the tap and when to apply the soap. How many minutes should one take a shower has also been carefully computed, and yes, to save water. This is probably the only country in the world when personal hygiene and toilet etiquette has been turned into a science.

While some would jump in glee at not having to take a bath to push the Save Water Campaign to the limits, many would resort to all kinds of ingenuities to cut down on their water bills. Some will do all their toilet activities in the kopitiams or at the workplace. That could be the reason why a crowded MRT train or bus doesn’t seem to smell so good in the morning.

Would all these efforts to save water have any negative side effects on our lifestyle, personal hygiene or the cleanliness of our food preparation? Or would these savings be significant enough to be worthy of the effort?

What shall we do in a time when the heaven opens up and blesses us with so much water? When oil is scarce, petrol prices go up. Likewise when water is scarce, we are expected to pay more for it. When our reservoirs are overflowing and water rushing into the sea, shouldn’t the price of water come down? Could water tariff varies with supply and demand, albeit for a few months in a year like all goods and services?

Maybe that is asking a bit too much to expect a huge mechanism to be sensitive enough to adapt its price over fluctuating supply and demand. It will be good though, during a rainy season, to encourage the people to use a bit more water, bathe a few times more, and make themselves cleaner to compensate on what they did not do during the drier months. The toilets and bathrooms could be cleaner, and the trains and buses could smell better.

The best political cartoon of the year

The best political cartoon of the year Heng of Lianhe Zaobao drew a cartoon with the title 'The Amazing Kim Jong Il' on a billboard display for the coming attraction. In the cartoon, Kim Jong Il was depicted as a magician performing the act of sawing a nuclear bomb into two, with its head and tail appearing at both ends of a box he was sawing into two. And the audience were the Americans, the Japanese and the South Koreans, all clapping and believing that the nuclear weapon will be cut into two. But Kim knew very well that it is just an illusion. Nice one.