A little bit of nostalgia of forgotten dreams, or old dreams versus new dreams of mothers. My mother’s big dream was for her children to finish the senior Cambridge Examination, the O level equivalent of today, a Grade 3 would be good enough, and become a ‘tua chye hoo’, literary to become a chief clerk. In those days, every govt department or company had a tua chye hoo, the ‘pau kar leow’ administrator for all paper works. Job opportunities for professionals were rare.
An entrepot did not need those talents. The colonial masters were contented that they had their cheap supplies of coolies and clerks to help them run their administration, and the private sectors to run their trading businesses. It did not take the Chinese community long to realise that the colonial masters were only interested in their own glorification and self interests. The immigrants were there to provide the brawns and shuffle a few papers for their convenience. Every female wanted to be a typist or stenographer or a secretary.
They had big charity drives for donations to build secondary schools and the only university in Southeast Asia for their children. They had bigger dreams. They did not have the privilege of raising funds to help the poor, the sick or the aged. The demands were more urgent and more important. They wanted to produce professionals, engineers, doctors, scientists in all professions.
When we became independent, the opportunities opened up for the locals in every sector and needed professionally trained locals to fill those positions. The mother’s dream changed. They wanted their children to get into university. Their vision went beyond tua chye hoo when they knew what were possible with tertiary education. Forget about tua chye hoo. A graduate meant more than just pride of achievement. It meant a better quality of life, with more material comfort through higher income and more secure jobs.
This mother’s dream continues today. Every mother still wants to see their children get into university and become a graduate. The ancient mothers were ignorant when their ambitious dream was a tua chye hoo. Today’s mothers are in a way ignorant of their dreams. A graduate is not going to make their life that much better. Some may end up as taxi drivers, worst than their parents or grand parents who were non graduates and were tua chye hoo, with a much better lifestyle than the graduates of today, with much better incomes.
Many parents still scrimped and emptied their life savings, downgraded their homes, to send their children overseas when they could not find a place in the local universities. Many regretted when their children refused to return. They forgot that on returning, their children would not be good enough to be a tua chye hoo and may end up you know what. Their talents will never be appreciated unless they happened to be foreign talents. The foreign talents, many are not any better, many worst off than our local talents have taken over their jobs. Some say no, these lousy foreign talents are here to help create jobs. I agree, so that locals can rent out their rooms and service them in hawker stalls and foodcourts, and drive them around in their taxis.
The overseas children of our mothers are doing pretty well overseas. Many could find better jobs and enjoying better quality of living that they could not find if they returned. Why should they return to compete with half baked foreign talents and may end up jobless? The ignorant mothers of today must change their thinking and cast their dreams further ashore. There is no place for their graduate children at home. They need to wonder afar to find their pots of gold. It is better that they remain overseas and stay there.
The familiar dreams of having a graduate and all is fine is no longer true in many cases. It is a crumbled dream.
12/11/2011
12/10/2011
American drone fell off the sky in Iran
An American drone fell off the sky deep inside Iran. This is a pilotless spy plane, RQ 170 Sentinel, which the Americans launched into countries where it collects intelligence photos of military installations. The Americans have been bully the weaker nations by this kind of espionage knowing that those countries cannot bring it down.
The drone only has a ceiling of 50,000 ft and flying at subsonic speed of 500 to 600 knots and should not be too difficult to hit and bring down. The Americans have since stopped such flights over China after several U2s and other makes were brought down in China. Dealing with the Americans, the only language they understand is force.
The Iranians can only stop these spying missions if they can bring the drones down or by blinding its cameras. Firing missiles at the drones may be expensive. Some laser technology to damage the sensors of the camera should be effective and economical.
Oh, the Americans have all the rights to spy on any country by whatever means. They are not infringing or violating the air space or territorial integrity of the countries they spied on. How about Iran, China or Russia doing the same to the Americans, by sending drones over North America?
The Americans are hopping mad with the Chinese now that their aircraft carriers cannot sail freely in the East China Sea. The Chinese can sink them by air or by sea. It is no longer a ‘I can hit you and you cannot hit me’ scenario. Soon the Americans will only deploy their carriers in the waters of Hawaii or nearer their homeland for safety reasons.
China don’t be a pain in the arse. Please tell the Americans that you can hit the carriers and how it can be done, with deadly precision. Please be transparent. Unofficial sources said that the drone in Iran was brought down with the assistance of Chinese technicians who could break the communication quote of the drone and took over control to bring it down.
This is the most fearsome technology that the Americans are still trying to fathom how advanced the Chinese are. Once the Chinese have the computer knowhow, the super computers, which they all have, they could literally take over all the satellites or ICBMs in flight and turn them around to hit targets of their choice. Such a technology is cheaper and more powerful when American weapons can be seized to hit American targets. This is what the Americans are screaming for transparency, to want to know what the Chinese are capable of. Fat hope that the Chinese will be stupid enough to tell them. It’s military secret of the highest order.
The drone only has a ceiling of 50,000 ft and flying at subsonic speed of 500 to 600 knots and should not be too difficult to hit and bring down. The Americans have since stopped such flights over China after several U2s and other makes were brought down in China. Dealing with the Americans, the only language they understand is force.
The Iranians can only stop these spying missions if they can bring the drones down or by blinding its cameras. Firing missiles at the drones may be expensive. Some laser technology to damage the sensors of the camera should be effective and economical.
Oh, the Americans have all the rights to spy on any country by whatever means. They are not infringing or violating the air space or territorial integrity of the countries they spied on. How about Iran, China or Russia doing the same to the Americans, by sending drones over North America?
The Americans are hopping mad with the Chinese now that their aircraft carriers cannot sail freely in the East China Sea. The Chinese can sink them by air or by sea. It is no longer a ‘I can hit you and you cannot hit me’ scenario. Soon the Americans will only deploy their carriers in the waters of Hawaii or nearer their homeland for safety reasons.
China don’t be a pain in the arse. Please tell the Americans that you can hit the carriers and how it can be done, with deadly precision. Please be transparent. Unofficial sources said that the drone in Iran was brought down with the assistance of Chinese technicians who could break the communication quote of the drone and took over control to bring it down.
This is the most fearsome technology that the Americans are still trying to fathom how advanced the Chinese are. Once the Chinese have the computer knowhow, the super computers, which they all have, they could literally take over all the satellites or ICBMs in flight and turn them around to hit targets of their choice. Such a technology is cheaper and more powerful when American weapons can be seized to hit American targets. This is what the Americans are screaming for transparency, to want to know what the Chinese are capable of. Fat hope that the Chinese will be stupid enough to tell them. It’s military secret of the highest order.
Don’t come back
The recent measures to curb property prices may offer some relief to Singaporeans that are still homeless because of the screwed up policies of recent years. It may be helpful to some but many are still left in the lurch, particularly the young professionals who were booted out of public housing by silly regulations that decreed they are rich enough to be skinned by the private property developers.
There are many such young professionals, highly qualified and living abroad and may want to return home. My advice to them is don’t come back. The opportunity cost is too high and so is the ransom to start life in their home country.
For a start, being highly skilled professionals, they would not be allowed to buy a public flat which would still cost them at least half a million bucks. They are expected to cough out at least a million to get a shitty little mickey mouse flat from the private developers. By the time they ended paying up in 30 years, it would have cost them $2m, just for a miserable little space to live in.
And the cost of a car, a cheap one, would be a hundred k. Being professionals, don’t expect them to live a life of the average Singaporeans and travel in MRT or buses. They are high earners and wanted a better life. Otherwise what is the point of their training, skills and qualifications?
The options for not returning, with three or four hundred k, they could get a very decent landed homes in any of the developed countries, like US, UK or Australia. A big car will not even cost half the COE they have to pay here, and can use for as long as they want. Funny, the cost of living in these countries are now cheaper than this paradise they would want to call home. And they could even command a higher or better income than returning to compete with foreigners with better comparative advantages.
They have all the advantages to remain PRs or even take up foreign citizenship and live a better life elsewhere, with lower cost of living than paying a huge ransom for a poorer quality of life here. It just does not make sense anymore for highly qualified young professionals to come home.
Don’t come back unless you don’t mind being robbed of all your savings and incomes.
There are many such young professionals, highly qualified and living abroad and may want to return home. My advice to them is don’t come back. The opportunity cost is too high and so is the ransom to start life in their home country.
For a start, being highly skilled professionals, they would not be allowed to buy a public flat which would still cost them at least half a million bucks. They are expected to cough out at least a million to get a shitty little mickey mouse flat from the private developers. By the time they ended paying up in 30 years, it would have cost them $2m, just for a miserable little space to live in.
And the cost of a car, a cheap one, would be a hundred k. Being professionals, don’t expect them to live a life of the average Singaporeans and travel in MRT or buses. They are high earners and wanted a better life. Otherwise what is the point of their training, skills and qualifications?
The options for not returning, with three or four hundred k, they could get a very decent landed homes in any of the developed countries, like US, UK or Australia. A big car will not even cost half the COE they have to pay here, and can use for as long as they want. Funny, the cost of living in these countries are now cheaper than this paradise they would want to call home. And they could even command a higher or better income than returning to compete with foreigners with better comparative advantages.
They have all the advantages to remain PRs or even take up foreign citizenship and live a better life elsewhere, with lower cost of living than paying a huge ransom for a poorer quality of life here. It just does not make sense anymore for highly qualified young professionals to come home.
Don’t come back unless you don’t mind being robbed of all your savings and incomes.
12/09/2011
A small increase every now and then
The Govt’s policy of having small increases every now and then is working quite well so far. It is easier to boil a frog that way without creating any alarm.
What about small cuts every now and then instead of a big and painful cut at one go? No, no, I am not talking about salary cut. That one cannot cut under whatever circumstances. The consequences are much more serious and severe.
I did write about minus one zero from our dollar notes. Indonesia has decided to minus 3 zeros from the rupiah notes. It is high time that we start to cut one zero from our dollar notes. We must not wait too long and have to cut 3 zeros at one go.
Small cuts are less painful and more palatable. The only thing is that people no longer can call themselves millionaires by owning a HDB flat. The Indonesians must be tired of being billionaires for too long. Our millionaires could turn nasty soon when they have to make ends meet as their HDB flats and savings in the CPF are untouchable and really not worth that much.
We are a country with the most millionaires but with many living from hands to mouth while smiling at their CPF statements. Come to think of it, better not to cut the one zero. It is good to believe one is a millionaire.
Yesterday's millionaires drove big Mercedes and stayed in big landed properties and live a different lifestyle.
What about small cuts every now and then instead of a big and painful cut at one go? No, no, I am not talking about salary cut. That one cannot cut under whatever circumstances. The consequences are much more serious and severe.
I did write about minus one zero from our dollar notes. Indonesia has decided to minus 3 zeros from the rupiah notes. It is high time that we start to cut one zero from our dollar notes. We must not wait too long and have to cut 3 zeros at one go.
Small cuts are less painful and more palatable. The only thing is that people no longer can call themselves millionaires by owning a HDB flat. The Indonesians must be tired of being billionaires for too long. Our millionaires could turn nasty soon when they have to make ends meet as their HDB flats and savings in the CPF are untouchable and really not worth that much.
We are a country with the most millionaires but with many living from hands to mouth while smiling at their CPF statements. Come to think of it, better not to cut the one zero. It is good to believe one is a millionaire.
Yesterday's millionaires drove big Mercedes and stayed in big landed properties and live a different lifestyle.
When is George Yeo going to be appointed Chairman?
The affable George Yeo, the intellectual of the PAP, is quitting politics for good with his stepping down as advisor to the Aljunid GRC. Though he is still very comfortable financially, and has a life long million dollar pension, it will be a waste of his talent if he is not appointed to some of the big jobs when talent is so short here.
Many yodas have been recycled year after year and holding many chairmanship positions. Some even being recalled regularly when the lack of talent younger generation CEOs were found hopeless in crisis management. George’s experience should come in very handy especially when he is still a young man.
When is George Yeo going to be appointed as Chairman of some GLC or Temasek companies?
Many yodas have been recycled year after year and holding many chairmanship positions. Some even being recalled regularly when the lack of talent younger generation CEOs were found hopeless in crisis management. George’s experience should come in very handy especially when he is still a young man.
When is George Yeo going to be appointed as Chairman of some GLC or Temasek companies?
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