Hindraf street protest, a very dangerous move

Though some calm has returned to the streets of KL, the Hindraf street protest is actually a very dangerous thing to do. This ethnic demonstration of force will not be looked at kindly in some quarters. Some may be thinking of staging a counter demonstration to show that they are a bigger force to reckon with. Some may even be thinking of a retaliation. Fortunately the leaders are sane enough not to add fuel to the fire. All it needs is a little spark, like the kissing of the kris, and KL will be flooded by blood. We will have a bigger May 13! It is so close and so dangerous. Cool down guys.

Singapore 9th costliest place in Asia

We are number 9, not number ONE. And that's bad. Some will be unhappy that we are not number ONE, the usual place of glory. Some will say, well, we are not that bad and still have room to grow. Let's try to beat Hongkong first. It is only 4 slot above us. We can start by raising our property prices to compete with Hongkong since ours are still so much cheaper. Then all the others can add up and we will be there. Then we will have another big achievement to crow about.

Charity and mercenaries are incompatible

When charitable organisations are growing too big and becoming big businesses themselves, there is a need for more effective corporate governance. And this cost money especially when professionals and professional agencies are needed in the wake of several embarrassing breaches. So everyone is now calling for big money to be paid for professionals to come in and manage big charitable businesses. Is this the right way to do things? Charitable organisations are meant to do charity using public donations. The people who stepped forward to serve charitable organisations mostly came forward to serve out of compassion and kindness. Accepted that wolves and vultures came along in disguise and started to steal donation money from these organisations, these are due to lack of supervision and corporate governance. If the solution is to bring in highly paid employees whose interest is to do a good job and to demand higher and higher pay, then charitable organisations may end up collecting donations only to pay these professional mercenaries. And they will want to be paid market rates, normally a percentage of the organisation's revenue. Is this what it should be? Collecting money from the public to be paid out handsomely to mercenaries? What the govt could do is to do a little public service. Second or attach a few top notched civil servants to be the guardians, the eyes and ears of the organisations. They can recommend regulations, rules and procedures, good corporate practices, and supervise the financial management of charitable organisations to keep things in order. And their salaries be paid by the govt and not from the donations. As a public service, it is not too much to ask for from the govt. Asking charitable organisations to spend a fortune on professional mercenaries is in conflict of what charity is all about, and a conflict of interest between the objectives of the organisations and those of the paid employees. Let the two be kept separate. There is no place for mercenaries in charity. We must not encourage greed in charitable organisations.

Shut up or move out

These have often been repeated in the net and even in the msm. Singaporeans who complained too much are ungrateful and do not know how good life is here, and should shut up or get lost. They are not wanted nor tolerated here. This is quite similar to the conditions in Malaysia and Myanmar. In the former, the minorities were told to shut up or face bloodbath. The other option is to move out. In Myanmar, the people and the monks were told to shut up. Do we want to become like Malaysia and Myanmar? Where did these cocky people got this notion from? Were they thought to tell people to shut up in schools and colleges simply because people don't agree with them? Or do they learn it from their parents or from our leaders? Where did they become so uptight and narrow in their mindsets that they simply would want others to just shut up or move out? Who are their role models? Is this what we called a first world people.

Should have let the British answer for Pedra Branca

As the legal owner of the islands handed down to us by the British Empire, and having governing it for more than a hundred years, it is quite silly actually, to go to court just because someone wanted to make a claim for it. In 1965, all of Singapore, including Pedra Branca, were in Malaysia. And when we separated, if the islands belong to Malaysia, they would have retained it without returning to us lock, stock and barrel. But they returned everything to us. Period. If there is any case, we should let the Malaysians take it up with the British like the Hindu Malaysians, Hindraf, are doing. Then we can just hold a watching brief. We need only fight the case if the British wish to entertain the Malaysian claim and fight an expensive legal battle with them. And if they lost, then we can come it and fight this battle if we so wish. But we should not. It is ours and there is no need to fight in court with anyone. Just put our Navy there and see if anyone dares to take it away from us.