Why India will always be number 2 to China

The two civilisations have many things in common. Put an Indian and a Chinese together to compete, they will give each other a good run for his money. There is little to choose between the two. Why then will India always be number 2 to China? Many observers have noted the systems, customs, culture and language as the main baggages that will slow down India. This has been proven in history over the last 60 years. India gained its independence in 1947 and inherited a country with all the systems and infrastructure in tact. There were little disruption and the country continued to build up from that point in time with no major upheavals. The CCP gained control of a devastated China in 1949 and went about to destroy whatever that was old and irrelevant. China went through a crisis stage of revolution and destruction in all fields, culminating in the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. Communist China was built on the ruins of a fallen dynasty and decadent customs and belief system. It started again on a relatively new slate in 1978 when it embarked on its four modernisations and opening up to the West. Today China has leapfrogged ahead of India and running in full steam with all engines firing. India is still taking a stroll, and making progress too, but at different pace. But these are not the main factors that is holding back India. India is targetting to overtake China to be the number 1 Asian power. It tries to compete and outdo China in every field. In areas that it is not competitive it just cry out loud that China should keep away from its sphere of influence. China on the other hand is trying to overtake the USA in all fields. What ever America is doing, China is trying to catch up. And China is catching up very fast. And this is the main reason why India will never catch up with China. It is focussing on a wrong target. The barrier that China intends to cross is way up in the sky. India is looking only at China and is already gasping for air and panting. Unless India sets its sight to overtake America, it will only be chasing China and be in China's shadow.

Uncle Yap's productivity prognosis

I happened to read Uncle Yap's comment on how to raise productivity in Singapore. And he said it should start right from the very top. Right. He recommended that Hsien Loong chopped half of his cabinet to show the way. I was musing over it the whole night and concluded that he was half right and half wrong. He was right in his diagnosis but wrong in his prescription. Right in the sense that any major policy must be top down with the leaders taking the lead and showing the way. But I don't agree with his recommendations to axe the top talents at the very top of the pecking order. These are the rare talants and in very limited supply and should not be anyhow wished away. Instead, I will counter suggest that in order to make them more productive, they should be given more jobs to do. Appoint them as Chairmans and directors or advisors to more institutions and organisations so that their talents and expertises are out to good use. Each one can easily take on 3 more Chairmanships or 10 directorship or 20 advisorships at least. My suggestions are definitely more positive and effective and agreeable for implementation, and definitely will raise productivity at the highest level. Making suggestions that cannot be implemented or will be rejected is, yes, unproductive.

New playground for foreign workers

Singaporeans and PRs have to pay $100 for entry to the Resort World casino. Foreign workers could enter free. What a great ruling. Now all the foreign workers will be making the casino their dining hall and playground. Free food and drink for the whole day at a cost of $3 for transport. And free aircon and comfort in a brand new resort. Ooh la la. Now we will see how the casino operator going to handle this kind of situation. The casual Singaporeans who could go in and spend a couple of hundred bucks would not find it worth their while to pay $100 to enter the casino. Instead, the casino will have to put up with a mob of hungry foreign workers who may put in ten bucks into the jackpot machine, and many may not and will just be there for the free food, comfort and entertainment. Interesting rulings and interesting situation.

Notable quote by Pauline Hanson

'Our govts lack enough people with the fortitude to speak up without fear or favour. Over regulation, increasing taxes and lack of true representation are affecting our way of life. I feel very much for the young ones. Once, it was common for them to won their own homes. Not now. It's a harder place.' Pauline Hanson Pauline Hanson is leaving Australia and returning to England to her fish and chip root. She must have been very disappointed over the immigration policy in Australia and wanted to go back to a place that is much fairer. She is in for a nasty surprise. There are more coloured immigrants in England today than the England she thought she knew. Her quote above is very familiar. At first I thought it was from a Singaporean or about Singapore. The only part I agree with her is her concern for the young. But it is not so that the young in Singapore are not able to buy their affordable homes here. Our young are in a very admirable position with the govt guaranteeing that more affordable homes will be built for them. Australia should learn from Singapore in building homes for their young.

The Awakening

Until 20 or 30 years ago, being Chinese is very uncool, very embarrassing and even shameful. It is a race that has been condemned by the West and bullied by little Afro and Asian countries. It was a poor ancient civilisation that has nothing going on for it, militarily weak, impoverised, inferior in science and technology, even in agriculture. It was struggling to be a nation, a very huge developing country of the hungry third world. Its citizens still trying all ways to escape to any foreign land, away from a harsh communist govt. Its Chinese diaspora quietly and humbly minding its own business and trying its best to earn a living through trade and business. No high ambitions as keeping a high profile will only attract unpleasant attentions. The Chinese were best described by the Westerners as non descript, inscrutable businessmen, lacking in character and talent. They all look alike. They were the natural target to be ripped off, to suffer discrimination, oppression and extortion at all levels of society they happened to reside. The best way to survive was to lie low, find a strong political leader as a godfather to protect their interest, and pay him well. Many Chinese were ashamed to be associated with anything Chinese. They discarded their language, culture and customs and willingly embraced Western culture to look respectable, and claimed to be international citizens of the world. Unfortunately they were only bluffing themselves. No one believe that they were anything else except Chinese. They could not believe that they have Chinese written on their faces even if they speak perfect English or American, and wear branded clothes. They were repeated victims of racial discrimination and violence. In a short span of 30 years, China is now the second most powerful country in the world though it still insists that it is a developing country. The Chinese who were running away are returning home to contribute to the rebuilding of their country. There is not only new found wealth, but new found pride and confidence in being Chinese. The returnees were not down and out failures but successful entrepreneurs and technocrats, scientists, doctors, academics, etc. armed with the latest knowledge and skills they have acquired to do their share for their homeland. China too is confident enough to open its door wide, and Chinese citizens are free to come and go. Not only the Chinese were returning, the Chinese diaspora who have left the country decades and centuries ago are also returning, rediscovering that there is nothing wrong being Chinese. They too are awakening to a new world where Chinese is no longer the shameful and inferior people of the world, fit only to be coolies, cooks and laundrymen. They are rediscovering their roots and their history and culture. The Westerners are also starting to learn Chinese to understand and do business with the Chinese. Chinese has become an increasingly important international language. While the West has just begun to learn Chinese, the Chinese are learning English in a big way. English is a very important must know language in China. In no time, the mainland Chinese are going to be proficient in both Chinese and English and will be well placed to benefit from the advances of science and technology. What have changed or contributed to this dramatic transformation of the world’s political and demographic map? Were the new Chinese aliens or just the same as their poor peasant predecessors? Where were they during the 300 years of dark ages in China? There were no talents then! Now everyone is saying that China is full of talents. Put simply, the Chinese were victims of minority rule during the Ching Dynasty. The Manchus were just a hunting tribe, like the Mongols, and ruled China with their muscles and swords. Culturally they were inferior to the Han Chinese but chose to oppress the Han Chinese for their political interests. The drive and enterprise of the Han Chinese diminished and many were impoverised when the dynasty collapsed. Those who escaped had to eke out a living in foreign land and subject to all kinds of harrassments and obstacles put in their ways. They were shackled people, and had no one to fight for their rights. They were suppressed, exploited and degraded in all fields. The Manchus were bankrupted, weak and helpless. And when the communists took power, the overseas Chinese were natural victims of the Cold War and continued to be marginalised in their new countries. The Chinese of today are no longer oppressed in their homeland and everyone is free to live their dreams and their high aspirations, at least constitutionally. Internationally, the victimisation and discrimination have lessen and they were able to break through in many fields of endeavours. The Chinese today no longer feel ashame or fear to be known as Chinese. And with a world that is freer and with racial discrimination and prejudices breaking down, there is little to hold back the individual Chinese to live their dreams and be treated more fairly everywhere they go. Relatively speaking, things are getting much better for the average Chinese and the diaspora in their new countries. Still there are many countries that would want to continue to suppress and oppress the Chinese and their drive, and to rob them if they could, or to commit racial genocide at the slightest excuse. But there is a new hope and a new awakening.