Balaji -Living the Singapore Spirit

Life is short. At 55, Balaji was even younger than Hsien Loong. What is pronounced in his passing is that he lived the Singapore Spirit. What is that? The Singapore Spirit is the desire to work till one's last breath. Even when he was very sick, he never stop working. He powered on, to serve the people, doing his duty as an MP and a Senior Minister of State. For his devotion, commitment and dedication to public service, he deserved a beautiful eulogy to his honour. The current leaders should look at Balaji as an inspiration and soldier on in their tasks to build a better nation. In sickness or in pain, answer the call of duty and persevere in an honourable role as leaders of a country. Then again, the people must not demand such an unreasonable expectation, that our leaders should plod along if they do not think they could take it. Some medical conditions or biological conditions will make this onerous task that much more demanding and excruciating. For those who have good reasons to want to spend more time while they can, to enjoy a little of life's pleasantness, and quit their jobs, the people must understand and wish them well. Singaporeans shall not demand that our leaders shall work till death do us part. They must also be given the privilege to have a good time and enjoy life while they can. To be honoured with an excellent eulogy is a good thing. To enjoy life and live well is equally good, though a bit selfish. As a Singaporean, I am feeling a bit guilty that we made our minister work to his death when he was already very sick. We should be more graceful and generous to our selfless leaders and remind them not to over work in the call of duty to the country and people. May Balaji rest in peace.

Dr S Balaji passed away this morning

At 55, he is a young man in the PAP's lineup of candidates. Quite a waste for a talented man to pass away at the prime of his career. Statistically he should have another 30 years to live for. Looking at SR Nathan, he is a marvel, looking chubby and younger every day. He looks like someone who is going to live forever and ever. He should write a book to share his secret on how to live longer and look younger. Indeed he is living a good life, free from care and want. My little bird has made one prediction right for the next GE.

A great evening for F1 but shit….

Everything was perfect. Even the threat of inclement weather was blown away. The evening was surprisingly cool and the spectators were happy enjoying themselves while the cars roared by, right to left, the heads kept turning. That’s what F1 is all about unless one is following closely on who is winning the race or chasing who. My best time spent was behind the grandstand, in the padang itself. The performers were great. The aerial dancers were better still. I did not stay back for Maria Carey and Adam Lambert show. But many came in just for that. I was quite pissed off with the F1 itself. I got a sore neck after repeating my head turns for an hour following the cars whoosing from right to left. That’s not all. I brought two cameras to shoot the cars and all I could shoot was the fence. Even at the top of the padang grandstand I could not overlook the fence. Eventually I folded up, and that’s when I got my sore neck. And there was even a clause in the terms and conditions of sale of ticket that copyrights of photographs taken of the F1 race belong to the organizer. Unbelievable! Do the organizers really feel that their competent photographers could not shoot better than amateurs and they have to fence up the whole circuit to make photographing the race impossible? Where is the freedom to take photographs? I am sure the event would have more exposure and interest if the public and amateur photographers were able to shoot good pictures and post it everywhere in cyberspace or in other media. It is free publicity and promotion for the F1. Surely safety can still be ensured by some ingenious fencing and location of the spectators with the fence lowered in some sections for a clear and unobstructed view of the race. It really spoilt the fun watching through the fences and unable to take a single clear shot. This is shit to F1.

East Asia coming full circle

China is demanding that Japan apologises and pay compensation for the arrest of fishing boat captain Ding Xiping. Japan had detained him for 3 weeks before releasing him under intense pressure from China. For the uninitiated, Japan annexed the island with the Penghu island group and Taiwan after it defeated China in 1895. It also claimed war reparation and many other rights and territorial claims. It wrestled Korea as its colony and hundreds of tons of silver from China. The weak and defeated China could not do anything but resigned to its dismal fate. And Japan went on to rape China and extort more and more rights from her, creating all kinds of incidents for more apologies and demands. The Marco Polo Incident was etched deeply in the minds of the Chinese populace. The closest equivalent of power between China and Japan then is between Iraq and the US today. The US could do anything to Iraq without any credible response from the Iraqi people. Today Japan is till a powerful military state. But the equation of its military might vis a vis China is that of Germany or England vis a vis the US. The Japanese still did not realise that there is a mismatch of the power equation and not in its favour anymore. For every soldier the Japanese have, the Chinese have 1000. For every military aircraft or tanks the Japanese have, the Chinese have 100 more. The bow and arrow and big sword armies of the Qing Dynasty were long gone. Today China will be making demands and more demands for any Japanese incursion and violation of its territorial integrity. And China does not need to create any incident like the Japanese did. It only needs to claim back all its territories ceded to Japan during the days of gunboat diplomacy and unequal treaties. The Yakuzas in Japan still think that they can take on China in the battle field. They are dreaming. The China of today is even ready to take on the US if forced to defend its national interest and territorial integrity. If Japan still does not take heed, it will be China declaring war on Japan and demanding apologies and war reparation. Naoto Kan said it is unthinkable for Japan to apologise over this incident and that Diaoyutai is Japanese territory. Such a stand will have grave consequences as China will no longer accept the unjust treaties it signed under duress. China will not and cannot back down from this Japanese position or it will be seen as acceptance of the Japanese claim. Let’s see what China will do next.

The SDP Rally at Hong Lim

A 400 crowd attended the SDP rally yesterday to express their unhappiness on the social political situation in the island. The crowd could be bigger if there were more publicity, and if public transportation is cheaper. Attending such a rally could cost a lunch or dinner and could be an inhibiting factor preventing people from attending. The organisers should have tried to contact those bus operators that were recently out of job to ferry hardlanders to Hong Lim instead of the casinos. That way the crowd could easily swell by a few thousands. The three main issues raised were foreigners, jobs and cost of living. The SDP's position is that too many foreigners is not good, not enough jobs and escalating cost of living, which reads bad. The response from the govt could be like this. They are slowing down on the intake of foreigners. And those foreigners that are still here are no foreigners any more. They are new citizens. As for jobs, who says no jobs? Just lower the expectations, there are plenty of jobs around and that is the reason why we need so many foreigners. The bestest living spirit of a Singaporean is to take any job that comes along. A foreigner with a PHD is willing to drive taxi, so what are Singaporeans complaining? And the last one, cost of living which equates to high public housing. This is definitely not a good reason. More than 80% of Singaporeans are living in public housing and the higher the prices the happier they will be. They can smile every day, not every month, when they read the newspapers reporting that the value of their flats have risen. The little annoyance is that all the CPF money will be sucked into it and nothing left to withdraw on retirement, taking into consideration the huge minimum sum and medisave account. But the latter two are for the good of Singaporeans. At the worst, they will die rich, with plenty of money to pass down to their children, if any, or worthy of the inheritance. See, so easy to rebut the opposition claims.