Political party manifesto 7

Political parties' support comes mainly from the poorer masses that form the bulk of the population. Without the support of the massess, no political party can come to power except from the barrel of the gun. Political parties have all the reasons to work for the masses. And the masses are the one that really need help from the political party in power. The two have a symbiotic relationship. Cost of living is a key concern of the masses. This is contributed by rising cost and taxation. The first will hit the masses very badly in every way. The second, taxation, is often skewed to favour the masses as they have less to pay tax and needed every cent to keep them going. Taxes that put a heavy burden on the masses are contrary to their interests. The pervasive nature of GST is not good for the masses unless it is fine tuned. No form of tax is good for the masses if they have to pay for them. The impact of the increasing GST will find the masses getting poorer despite the rebate. It will never be enough as life goes on day after day and year after year. In the long run the masses will still have to foot increasing taxes through GST. Why are there no political party fighting for the masses to modify the GST so that at least the essential services and food stuff are GST exempt? Why is it that political parties that claim to represent the masses and needed the support of the masses could so happily dismiss the plight of the struggling masses? Why are the masses supporting political parties who are not for their interests? Or is this a temporary trend, a transient phase that will be over taken by the basic realities, that the masses will eventually know which party is for them or against them?

How serious is profiteering?

There were little profiteering, very few raised prices. Now there are more appearing, and more complaints. The msm has done its survey and found only 4.8% of those surveyed raised their prices. Ask any housewives or any consumers and they will tell you practically everything is up. And if prices are not up, the quantity goes down. I had a personal encounter when the meat came in paper thin slices instead of the usual one cm thickness. I could not believe my eyes. I stared at the plate of rice and meat and the stall holder looked away. I know that that would be the last time I buy from that stall in a food court. But what is real? Are the people now being shortchanged by the stalls and shops? How much is a dollar worth now?

Li Hongyi - Abuse of email?

Thomas Koshy said Li Hongyi was a victim of abuse of email. He also said the matter he raised, AWOL, was a matter that hardly concerned the whole SAF. Does Koshy read the details in the publicised email and the problems raised? If the email circulating is accurate, it is not a case of AWOL alone. It is repeated AWOL and hardly any action taken with people treating military duty like a boy scout camp. Does Koshy know what it means by Duty Officer of a camp over the weekend? It simply means the whole camp is under the charge of a Duty Officer. He is to take full command of the camp. In the absence of an officer, the next person, probably an NCO, will now have to shoulder the full responsibility. What if the NCO burns down the camp and ransack the place? What if the most fear things happened in his absence? Dereliction of duty is a very serious offence and if this is allowed to continue without being stopped, I wonder what would happen to the whole system. Of course it is a matter that concerns the whole well being of the SAF. It must be reported one way or another. It is a case of a lesser evil by raising the issue to the highest authority since it was ignored at the lower level. By passing the normal procedure using email is a lesser wrong than correcting what he set out to do. It is good that the problems are addressed immediately and discipline restored. Can't imagine officers can go AWOL and taken lightly.

Perpetuating a tragedy

How to condemn your children to a life of misery and poverty? This seems like a textbook case here and around the world. For the illiterate, poorly educated, often jobless, the only thing they care to do is to produce as many children as possible with no thought of how to feed them and provide for them. Just read in the papers this morning of two often jobless parents with 12 children. Whose fault is this if the children continue a life of poverty, even becoming drug addicts or delinquents, becoming misfits of society? Is this the responsibility of the govt and the general public to take care of them? The people can expect the govt to help those in trouble. But should the govt help those who voluntarily bring trouble upon themselves? If the govt takes on such a responsibility, it will only encourage the irresponsible to continue with their stupidity and recklessness. The parents deserved to be caned for condemning their children to a life in the gutters. All the horror stories and tragedies are being set up for the future.

Buddhism is not a belief

Buddhism, unlike other religion, is not a belief, but a philosophy of life, how to live life. But to the laypersons, and the not so enlightened practitioners, even decorated high monks, many have treated is as religion of belief. The ridiculous thing about a belief is that one can believe anything if one is willing to. One can believe that the tooth of a cow can be the tooth of a human and adamantly tell the sceptics that 'All the time I believe it is true and I do not want to question its authenticity.' So get lost and don't argue or question whether it is real of fake. We all have different perception of what is real. And I must be strong in my faith and I shall not waver. I know that one must be strong in understanding the teachings of the old masters. I am also very sure the old masters did not teach the followers to believe blindly or that he will insist that his followers must believe in things that are claimed to be his. Such an attitude is bad for the religion and followers. Many would be turned off by such disregard of real and false, by stupidity to the extent of being moronic. That is why I always encouraged believers of any religion to question the truth and reject falsehood when it stares them into the eye. A lump of shit is a lump of shit no matter what the person wants to believe. And worst, making all the followers believing in his shit. Modern people of today have the privilege and advantage of modern science and technology and knowledge that are several thousand years more advanced than the ancient believers whose understanding of things that were rudimentary. When today's truth is obvious, it is pure stupidity to believe in yesterday's falsehood as truth.