Medals for the Philippines police

With more facts and evidence in the open, Aquino should seriously consider awarding the Police Chief and his SWAT team a medal... for Stupidity. The Police Chief should get a higher award, Medal for Stupidity of the Highest Order. In the public inquest he was asked why he didn't accede to the simple request from the ex police officer. His reply was a rigid text book version 1.01, that if he gave way, more officers will repeat the act of holding hostages to make demands. How ridiculous could this be. Even a machine could be more flexible and think better. And for the police officers running around the hijacked bus wielding their sledge hammers that could do no damage to the bus windows, did they know that the hijacker could spray his M16 at the hostages and finished them off in 5 secs? And they were happily hammering away as if they got the whole day to do so. The fact that the hijacker was willing to talk, to release hostages said a lot about his lack of intent to kill the hostages. And the fact that after all the messing around, many hostages were still unhurt and alive is proof that he was not really interested in killing them. Medals of Stupidity shall be part and parcel of the awards of any country and be conferred to the well deserved recipients when necessary.

What is appealing about the Abdul Malik arrest?

He blogged about burning Vivian, the Minister. He called on the people to vote out the govt. He was arrested for inciting violence. And cyberspace is on fire with many voicing support for Abdul Malik. I must say that the word ‘burn’ is a very sensitive word here. We kind of developed a phobia for burning politicians. Bloggers are well advised not to use such a word in their blogging. I don’t know if Abdul Malik’s call to vote out the govt is against any law. Or could it be a call that can only be uttered during a general election? What is important here is to look at Abdul Malik himself and ask if he is a terrorist, someone trying to incite violence, or is he just a blogger, like many bloggers, including me, spurting generalization and at times nonsensical and provocative comments. My only concern is not to treat bloggers as terrorists or dangerous elements out to destroy the social fabric of our country.

What is appalling about the commando assault?

Some wonder why the hooha over the bungled commando assault by the Philippines police. Many who have watched the drama live on TV would have the same impression as well, without any prompting, that it was an amateurist work of art. And the truth is revealing itself to confirm that it was a bungle, nothing less. Even the Philippines Govt admitted it outright and calling for a thorough impression. What is appalling about the whole episode is the total disregard of the lives of the tourists. That was the impression that I got. The police were running around the bus in full view of the kidnapper and that itself is the most provocative act. You could see that killing the kidnapper was their only concern. Now with the truth disclosed that the kidnapper was no terrorist, no hard core criminal or robber or extremist, it is much harder to swallow that the incident ended in so many death, including the death of the kidnapper. He was an unhappy man. No, he was a model cop that was unjustly dismissed or framed up. At least that was his version of the story. Would such a man who was demanding for an investigation and probably a reinstatement of his job become a killer? His demands were proof that he wanted his job back, with no intention to kill. And who would want to kill him and let to the killing of the innocent tourists? Why couldn't they appease him with an investigation to his dismissal and settle his grievance later, saving the lives of the tourists? The priority, it seemed, was to apprehend or kill the kidnapper. The lives of the tourists did not matter all. The tourists were just calafares in a police and robber movie. Donald Tsang tried the whole day to get in touch with Aquino but in vain. They did not want Aquino to speak to Donald Tsang. And when Aquino appeared on TV the same day and the day after, he was all smiling with no hints of sadness that so many innocent lives were lost for nothing. And now they are still going to investigate the dead cop's dismissal, which was what the dead cop wanted. And there were many pictures of the cops involved in the botched operation taking photos with the bullet ridden bus as the backdrop. It was all like fun, a picnic. These pictures are now circulating in the internet. I have seen several of them. All the police men and women were smiling like they had just completed a movie shooting and celebrating for a job well done. That itself would tell what was important and what was not to them. It is appalling and disgusting, really.

My National Day Inputs

1. Bring down the price of public housing. Remember it is the citizens that have to pay and pay. Paying for a life time for a public flat is a life sentence. 2. Make sure that all citizens, especially NS men, be eligible to buy a HDB flat. Make it a right attached to NS. If not, what’s the point of NS? And worst, new citizens who have not done NS are eligible to buy HDB flats. 3. Bring down the cost of medical services and hospitalization fees. 4. Bring down the cost of public transport. 5. Stop the mad population growth. It is a vicious cycle that will lead to doom. Nah, nobody will listen.

One happy problem out of the way

Singaporeans are now all smiling with the prices of their HDB flats going higher by the days. And with this good feeling of becoming millionaires and near millionaires, they should all be very grateful to the HDB and the govt for their windfalls. For those singles, young professionals etc who are not eligible to buy a HDB flat, just accept your fate or migrate to a place where housing is cheaper. And being professionals, they are in demand and can always find good employment elsewhere. And don't worry, their absence will not be felt as there are millions of foreigners waiting to become new citizens and buy HDB flats. Bon voyage!