For those who have, more shall be given to them

Christians must be quietly smiling at this quote. This has been spoken by God a few thousand years back and they know. The truth of the statement is there for all to see. The rich shall get richer is the natural law of God. With their wealth, the rich could only multiply them at much faster rate than those who are struggling to earn their money through muscles. How easy it is to buy a property at $1m and loo behold, two years down the road it becomes $1.5m, reaping a profit of $500k. This amount may take a worker a life time to earn but would be spent everyday leaving him with nothing to spare. Many folks are earning tens or hundreds of thousands without have to exercise the muscles of their limbs. See how comfortable they are to write that cheque for the $60k COE or the $500k down payment for the landed property! On the other hand the losers are complaining about kopi going to cost 20c more per cuppa! For those who have, more shall be given goes further than this. Some of those who have tens of millions, hundreds of millions, will still be given millions without having to work, in the form of pensions or gratuities, when they don’t need a single cent more to live in the lap of luxury. There are many such lucky people around whose lives are so blessed. But God is cheeky and cynical too. He also said, ‘The meek shall inherit the earth.’ Of course he is joking. How could that be when those who have shall have more and those who don’t have shall have less? The message to the meek is simply, fat hope. The meek shall always live on hope while they live a wasted life of not enough. That is the painful truth of life. No escape.

Thomas Friedman singing praises for the American Empire

He lamented what a world would be if America could not project power the way it has in an article in the ST today. He said ‘your’ kids won’t grow up in a different America but will grow up in a different world. Die, American kids are going to get walloped if America could not wallop the rest of the world. He is worried that American kids would not be able to push everyone around. He fears a China and the likes of Julian Assange, who could carry as much weight as America. He fears a multi polar world that would not benefit the American kids that much but also the kids of other countries, notably other powers like China, India, Brazil, Russia and the Europeans. And that is simply bad. He was disgusted that China could exercise so much power to keep countries from attending the circus in Norway when Liu Xiaobo was the celebrated clown for the day, and in the company of greater clowns. And China could do it without the use of the aircraft carriers and fighter bombers, but just simple economic power. And he called this an act of perversity, that China is equated as a failed state abusing its new found power, irresponsible is the word. What about America forcing its allies to go to war in Iraq and other theatres of war, in a Coalition of the Unwiling? The American allies have no choice but being muscled in to kill people, invade countries, execute regime change, and be accomplices to the infamous Guantanamo Camp where freedom and human rights were never heard of. And these were the acts of the Evil Empire which he approved of. America is exceedingly responsible as a super power in doing all these things. Make a comparison between China exercising its economic power in not attending a circus and America exercising its military power in commiting acts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Which is more IRRESPONSIBLE, and more oppressive, abominable? How long and how much more must Asians be preached with such sermons from the West, particularly from the Americans, whose only concern is for their own good. What is good to the Americans, and cruel to others, is still good. What is not good to the Americans, no matter how civil, is not good. Should the world continue to live with such condescending American logic?

A return to govt service

The privatisation of hospitals, public transportation and housing is starting to show how serious this mistake is. Essential services cannot be left to the free market to determine how much the consumers should pay. The market forces, if only it is real, is only concerned with profits, and profits and nothing else. The only principle that governs private business is how much the consumer is willing to pay or how much the seller of services and products can squeeze out from the consumers. As long as there are consumers able to pay, it is affordable, at least to those who can afford to pay. A $100k COE is affordable to the one who can afford it. A $1m 3 rm flat is affordable if there are people who are willing to pay for it. Resources, limited resources, are allocated according to what the market dictates, as being the most efficient and effective. Really? However, for sure, resources will not be allocated to those who need it most if they cannot afford to pay. And the haughty and cocky explanation is that one has to pay for it at market determined price.. If one cannot afford it, go for substitutions, downgrade, or tighten the belt. At the bottom of it all, if one cannot afford to pay, one does not deserve anything, even goods at inflated prices.. To overcome such inequalities, to the rich and powerful these are not inequalities, there are govts, not necessarily socialists, who would want to intervene to better allocate the resources to the needy. I would like to make a call for essential services to be returned to the govt, place under the charge of the public sector. My reservation is that govt services are run by incompetents and any services they provide will be inefficient and ineffective. If this assumption that public servants are all incompetents and useless, which was the justification for privatisation, then it is like the frying pan and the deep blue sea. This is a strange phenomenon as our govt services are staffed by the best talents in the island. As economic system approaches the end of the capitalist road, the communists will say, I told you so. The capitalist road will lead to its own destruction and a revolution of the under class is the natural anti thesis.

Singapore in a state of siege or self denial?

Through WikiLeaks we must have offended many countries in Asean and Asia. From India and Myanmar through Thailand and Japan, from China and North Korea in the north and down south to Malaysia and Taiwan in the East, they cannot be too pleased with what we said about them. George Yeo said that these were just cocktail gossips, not worth bothering about, should not be troubled by them. Our relations with the countries affected would not be affected. That is our version of how WikiLeaks affect us and our friends. What are our blastered friends thinking now? Would they regard the WikiLeaks in the way we do and dismiss them as nothing serious, or nothing that they will lose any sleep for? If they do, then it is just like a tropical thunderstorm that would not last more than an hour. The weather will be fine again. What if the affected countries are seething in rage? Would they, could they or should they? Would there be any consequences? So far only Malaysia has openly displayed their displeasure and, thankfully, no stone throwing across from the causeway. Our improving relations have bore fruits. The silence from the other capitals is quite uncharacteristic of what could be expected. Is the reticence real or several protest notes are already on the tables of George Yeo and Hsien Loong? It has been rumoured that LKY is going to make a comment on the WikiLeaks’ exposure on Singapore. Is this an indication that we are already in a state of siege and a response or an apology is in the cards? Singapore has been hit in the most unexpected manner at a most inappropriate time. All systems were go for the coming general election. A slate of wonderful things are lined up with nice happenings that would make the govt look good are waiting to be rolled out. Now out of the blue, the govt is in a damage control mode. The WikiLeaks is more than just an embarrassment and irritation. It has given the election campaign cart a big jolt when things were just getting comfortable. Maybe I am drawing too much inference from nothing. Maybe there is really nothing to it and things are as normal as before. I can be dense at times.

A few pictures of ION in Orchard Rd