The best fund manager’s job

The best fund manager is one that can take all his clients’ money to gamble and pay himself crazily when the bet wins, and then can brag to the clients how clever he is. And if loses, never mind, twists the arms of the clients to put in more money and the clients cannot say no.

And better still, no need to show the clients how the fund is performing, just write whatever he wants to tell the clients. Just tell the clients to trust him.

And even better still, no need to refund the clients any money if there is no money in the kitty to refund the clients.

What a wonderful job. No accountability, no transparency, no responsibility and nobody’s money. The money is as good as his to do as he pleases. My dream job.

Deaf frog will not listen

Sing a song of good foreigners. This has been the theme song in the main stream media for the past months and all kinds of logical and illogical scenarios and craps were published to establish just one point, foreigners are good and we need more foreigners. It is in the blood of the deaf frogs not to listen to the people. Surveys were also conducted with flattering conclusions how Sinkies love foreigners with only a little misgivings which are understandable.

These things are happening despite the tension, cries and cursing everywhere of the problems foreigners are causing to the citizens in practically every aspect of our lives. In small numbers they were most welcomed. In bigger numbers, they were still welcomed but with a little pain. When the increasing numbers is going to make Sinkies a minority in their own country, this is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. A breaking point is not too far off.

But the deaf frogs continued with their beautiful song, foreigners are good, foreigners are welcomed. There is an interesting rebut by John Kwok Jung Yun in the Today paper in response to a Vincent Gabriel’s article, ‘Not citizens, but they sacrificed.’ Gabriel was referring to the heroism of the Malay Regiment during colonial rule when citizenship was irrelevant. The Malay Regiment fought bravely, for the British Empire, who robbed them of their country and made Malaya a British colony. I wonder if that was something to be proud of without belittling the bravery of the soldiers.

Gabriel’s point was that even they were not citizens, they were willing to defend the country. What he did not touch on was the mentality of the people then. All the subjects of colonialism stretching from Africa, India to Southeast Asia, were conscripted to fight for the Empire with little thought of Nationalism. The awakening came only after the Second World War when all these colonized state and its people rose to reclaim their countries. Before that, they served the Empire blindly and out of a need to survive, to put food on the table. There were no will, no leaders to tell them that they were colonized people and the colonial masters were their enemies who robbed and raped their countries.

Would the non citizen conscripts of today fight for a country they don’t believe in? Fighting and dying for a country, a motherland, comes from the heart. No amount of money and rubbish campaigns or words can win the hearts of soldiers who have no heart to serve and die for a country. In peace time, they would reluctantly serve as they could see some economic returns after NS. In crisis, would they scoot? I bet, scoot they will.

Some jokers even called for a mercenary force. This is the most foolish idea to ever be suggested. The mercenaries could turn around and take over the country.

The gist of the importance of a national army is best defined in the words of Dr Goh Keng Swee in 1968, ‘conscripts and regulars of other countries did no put up a distinguished performance (at the Battle of Singapore) but it could have been different if “we had 40 battalions or our own men.”’ I took this quote from John Kwok’s article in his reply to Gabriel.

The defense of a country must be the responsibility of its citizens and not any foreigners. No one will fight and die for a country when the heart is not in the right place. We could continue to draft the children of PRs into our armed forces. We will constantly be in a tricky position wondering what would they do when they are called upon to fight and die for the country. Are the words of Dr Goh just hogwash and to be forgotten because the new expediency is that we need the foreigners? To take one step further, farm out the jobs of defending the country to mercenaries, out source them.

Foreigners will always be foreigners. Fair weather foreigners don’t make good choice as defenders of the nation. Sing a song of good foreigners could be singing a song of our own demise.

Dark clouds over Asia and Southeast Asia

Since the end of the Second World War, Asia and Southeast Asia enjoyed a period of relative peace excluding Vietnam and Korea. The two countries were engaged in wars against the Empire, mainly the US and its allies. After the fall of Vietnam and the departure of the Empire, peace finally returned to the region.

The US, after being driven out of Vietnam, concentrated its military interests in the Middle East, engaging in more wars in that region, fighting in Iraq, threatening Iran, fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan and lately Libya. Syria is on the verge on being attacked by the Empire.

After decades of fighting a no win war, the Americans are growing tired and disillusioned. They needed to have a convincing win for the home crowd to scream Victory and to celebrate more bravery and heroism over their poor helpless victims. Under pressure from the home crowd and failing to perform, they reluctantly forced a retreat like they did in Vietnam.

But the spare military forces and weapons need to be redeployed in another theatre. Asia and Southeast Asia presented that opportunity. The latter is so much more attractive with militarily weak regimes to rule over. And there were some with vested interests to want the Americans to back their wild claims and ambitions.

There were tensions in the region but very minor. When China was relatively weak militarily, even little country like the Philippines found it acceptable to arrest Chinese fishing boats in Chinese territories and dragged them to Manila as a show of force. With a China growing in military strength and able to stop such military adventurism, such acts became less frequent.

With the American’s declared intention of returning to the region and amassing their superior military presence, it emboldens countries like Vietnam and the Philippines to once again think that it is acceptable to intercept and arrest Chinese fishing boats. The new Chinese navy capability will not allow it to happen again and tension rose when the Chinese took a stand to protect its own fishing boats.

This was played up as an assertive and military strong China and a threat to Southeast Asian countries by the US, and with tacit support for the adventurers to create more skirmishes and tension. It then uses this rising tension to justify its presence in the region, to rule the littoral states, as the return of the Empire. Today, the targeted enemy or strawman is China. Tomorrow it could be India, and next it could be Indonesia. These fabricated threats of the Empire were used to frighten the Southeast Asian countries to seek its military support to rule the waves in the region.

Not all the Southeast Asian countries are daft to accept this fabricated truth and threats. They knew that the biggest threat to peace and stability in the region is actually the presence of the American military forces. There are concrete and historical evidence in the Middle East and Vietnam and Korea to reflect on. Who were the protagonists fighting wars everywhere? Who is the real trouble maker that insists on ruling over the little countries in the region? Who is the one that is against smaller countries to emerge as regional powers and threatened to attack and do regime change? Not China, but the Empire.

The recent Shangri La Dialogue has seen the regional powers stating their positions but was abruptly pushed aside by the Empire. The Empire does not listen to small regional powers or countries. The Empire simply ignored the concerns of the countries in the region and declared that it is here to stay, to be their protector, their ruler. And to hammer home the point, it simply needs to create fear, fear of an assertive China, creates more tension by encouraging more adventurism in the region, perhaps some conflicts. False flag incidents are going to happen next, in the South China Sea, like the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in the 1960s.

Trouble is brewing in an otherwise peaceful Southeast Asian region with the Empire back to cause mischief and mistrust among the regional countries. And France has also declared that it is also a power in the Indian and Pacific Ocean. Following closely is Canada who also wants to set up a base in the region to support the American initiative. Is Southeast Asia ripe for a new phase of colonization when the western powers arrogantly invited themselves in as powers with strategic interests in the region. How are they going to carve up the region as their areas of influence? Is Southeast Asia for the taking?

What would be the position or place for India and Indonesia? And when has the US become an Asian power?

Vellama Marie Muthu versus the Attorney General

The hearing in court on the interpretation of the Constitution on by election could prove to be another highlight on the local changing political landscape. It was a case that needed not be, but after the challenge by the Attorney General against a court’s interpretation of the Act, it is now a case to be watched. The judiciary system, judicial justice and the political system will now be put under the spot light.

It was quite puzzling why the AG would want to stop the court from giving a ruling on a matter of law, on what the Constitution really meant on the expediency to hold a by election. I thought a clear and unmistakable court ruling on this piece of law will be good for everyone, a removal of an ambiguity and more transparency.

Now this case has taken a life of its own and many issues will be put out to air. The PM is now being summoned by the court under Justice Philip Pillai to make an appearance to explain the advice given to him by the AG. Not only the Sinkies will be watching this case with renewed interests, the world will also be watching this development, and the court’s ruling eagerly waited as a measure of the country’s standing and its claim to the rule of law. It has become a test case for democracy, transparency and rule of law.

A more interesting headline will be ‘Cleaner versus the Prime Minister.’

Spot the idiot

Two super talented housing ministers are saying and doing different things. One cried wolf, claiming that tens of thousands of unsold HDB flats were wasting assets in the billions and need to be got rid off fast, and never to be repeated again. The billions of unproductive dollars were they based on market price or building cost? Did any backbencher question the numbers? The two numbers were as far apart as heaven and hell. Wonder which idiot allowed the surplus to build up to such a huge number, probably sleeping on the job, and which idiot got rid of them only to find that the amount was not enough given the huge influx of immigrants in the pipeline. Did not know? And to compound the problem, the building programme was not only slowed down but no new flats would be built unless the number of confirmed applicants exceeded some numbers that they were happy with. The edict was final.

And of course public housing price was damned affordable and the DPM even quoted in Parliament that a $1000 pm income could buy a HDB flat. And there were more supporting arguments by other ministers and MPs to such a claim. And they claimed that they could be the opposing voice of the people, criticising flawed govt policies, but not a single one of them saw the flaw and the serious problems of housing. Did any of these so called backbencher MPs from the ruling party speak about the housing problems before they admitted that it was a serious problem after the last GE? Can they be trusted by the people to listen to their cries, to represent them and speak for them as individuals of independent mind, speak like opposition MPs?

Now the new housing ministers is trying desperately to ramp out building more public flats and 50,000 units were still not enough. And the prices continue to escalate with continuous demand for more. If the price is affordable, the minister would not need to talk about price easing as a major goal. And funny, the minister is also talking of a pool of over supply HDB flats as a cushion for good measures.

Now, has anyone spotted the idiot? The real idiots are really the voters who believed that ruling party backbencher MPs can really represent them and speak for them. The real idiots are those who believed that public housing was affordable and kept emptying their pockets to pay for a 99 year lease flat that would have no value when the lease expires.

The real idiots are the suckers who would not do anything to help themselves and blindly listen to half truths or fabricated truths. The real idiots are the daft Sinkies. They only have themselves to blame for the plight they are in, for being gullible sheeples. For believing that the housing policies were the best from the most talented, and meekly accepting them, queueing for them, being prevented from buying public housing as citizens while new citizens happily came in to buy and profited from them, and increasing the long queue, and buyers paying happily for public housing at very affordable price as officially pronounced, but the most expensive public housing in the world.

How long would the gullible Sinkies choose to remain as idiots?