It is political, it is documentary, it is...

Coming hot on the heels of the reclassification of the 'Demons' In White to be not dangerous anymore, not enemies, we are seeing the reclassification of Martyn See's Singapore Rebel from a political film to a documentary film. See how outrageous things can be? It is political, no it is not, no it is,... depending on the tide and wave, I think. When is a person a good person or a bad person is also dependent on the situation and timing, and also which side one gets up from the bed. But the truth will still be the truth and any truth that has not surfaced will surface in a matter of time. The only issue is that it is not time, or the timing is not right. Will we see a new history to write something good about JBJ or Chee Soon Juan?

Property bubble to be raised in parliament

MPs are gearing up to raise questions on the buying frenzy for new properties and the escalating of property prices, both public and private. Would it be a concern all for nothing? Mah Bow Tan has said many times that HDB prices are affordable. So has HDB with their repeated explanations in the media, and today it came out with a detailed table to show how affordable the HDB flats are. The figures speak for themselves and why are people refusing to listen and accept the fact that HDB prices are affordable? A 3 rm flat at $150k only needs $460 pm to service. Very affordable for a household income of $2000. No need cash I think, just use the full CPF contribution. And a 5 rm flat at $330k needs only $1189 pm with a little cash after using all their CPF. The report did not say whether the repayment is 30 or 40 years. Anyway, very affordable, without much CPF left. While critics are embroiled in the issues of affordability and mark to market pricing, they tend to forget that maxing the used of CPF will mean compromising on the key role of CPF savings for retirement. No one is asking about the real cost of the flats and why pricing to extract the most from the buyers and eating up all their disposable income. This is public housing afterall and keeping the price low will allow the buyers to use their income in many other ways. The danger of a subprime crisis in our midst cannot be ruled out as the conditions are quite similar, low interest rate, liquidity, full employment, an economy that is still ticking. With such high leverage and big loans, a little flu in our economy will hit these high leverage buyers badly. When the price of a flat is dependent on mark to market pricing which is highly volatile and can go crazy, when a flat costing $150k can be sold for $300k or $500k, it can come tumbling down when the demand is not there. Would it not be better for a little intervention to moderate the craziness and not letting the bubble to expand to catastrophic proportion before bursting? Let the market forces or free market mechanism do its job? Where is the moral responsibility to be prudent and avoid plunging into a tragedy? Caveat emptor good enough?

She is rich, at least worth $300k!

Most Singaporeans owning a HDB flat is worth at least a couple of hundred thousand bucks. An owner of a 3 rm flat should be worth about $300k. Now that kind of wealth could make the person live like a rich gentry in many countries. In paradise, some of these people are living the life of vagabonds, scrapping a living collecting tin cans and scrap boards. This is real, no imagination. There is such an old woman shown on video. What she needs is to get a financial adviser to manage her wealth, turn the piece of asset into an income and live better. Or maybe she was just trying to keep herself fit and collecting scrap boards is just a form of exercise.

Anti Jews tattoo

Malaysia has its cow head stomping incident. We have our 'Anti Jews' tattoo incident. In our case it was a guy with a tattoo 'Anti Jews' done on his face. And he was charged in court for hitting a Jew. He really did that. Such anti racial or religious acts did not happen out of the blue. The govt has a prominent role to send the right message out, that it would not tolerate such acts and behaviours. Any govt that takes a partial attitude towards such infringements will only encourage and breed more of such behaviours. Any infringement of such a nature must be nipped in the bud and the law coming down hard on the culprits. The message must be loud and clear. By the way, how could someone wearing such a tattoo on his face in Singapore and get away with it? Nobody notices it? It is good that the Malaysian govt has taken action to charge those who were involved in the cow head stomping incident. If they continue to protect the culprits, more racial hatred will flare up. Now the whole community will be watching the case and see how partial or impartial will be the court's judgement.

The Age of Demonising over?

During the cold war period the western powers and their media went on a tenacious campaign to demonise anything Communist, Russian or China as bad, demons, devils, destructive, terror, evil or whatever that is negative. This went on for more than half a century till today. There is a little easing off lately with the fall of the Soviet Union and the emergence of a capitalist China. The demonising is still going on. The events following the publishing of the book Men In White could be an indication that the Age of Demonising your enemies or opponents is slowly coming to an end. Or will it be? Our general election is around the corner. The opposition political parties are not in the same league of the Communists and the Barisan Socialists. They are more like any other ordinary citizens. Would they be subject to the kind of demonising to discredit them as reasonable people unworthy to be elected as the people's representatives in Parliament? For that matter, why are cyberspace and alternative media being regarded in the likes of dissidents or anti establishment parties, an evil force that must be watched like a hawk and if possible nabbed and put into cold storage? I seem to have this impression, rightly or wrongly, that this is the sentiment. Is it true or just my imagination? Are they that dangerous, that destructive? By the way, alternative parties are just groups of individuals offering an alternative to run the country and not gangsters or mobs or triads or demons. They need to be treat respectfully as any deserving citizens, in fact better, for their noble intention to serve the people and nation. There are thugs, rogues and scoundrels in their midst, possible. In fact these undesirable elements are present in all corners of society, among the elite as well. Will we see the passing of the Age of Demonising? Or calling people names, branding people as bad, etc etc is still a way of protecting ones own self interest. They are bad, we are good!