North Korea offering the olive branch

With the young Kim Jong Un in charge, changes are starting to take place in North Korea. So far the indicators are quite positive. He is coming on as a livelier and down to earth person, more open and easy going. There is a high and good possibility that the North Koreans would adopt the Chinese model of economic growth by opening up, like Myanmar. They have made trips to China for more talks and fact finding missions.

The latest and most promising sign is to open discussion with Japan, likely to be for aids and economic cooperation. It would be a good opportunity for Japan to open up and engage the North Koreans, extend whatever economic assistance they could to help the North Koreans to become wealthier, seeing more promises and hopes of a better life. A rich and prosperous North Korea is likely to be friendlier and less confrontational and could be an active member of the world community. It is to Japan and the South Korea’s interest to integrate the North Koreans into the world system with economic growth and less military provocations.

Japan could go one step further, as just economic growth is not enough. The centuries of historical debt, particularly of land grabs must be settled as soon as possible. Japan could stand out as the country that is genuine to bury the past by unilaterally announcing the return of all islands taken from its neighbours during its colonial days. Such a gesture will be greatly welcomed by its neighbours, and the world will see Japan in a very positive light. It will also remove forever the torn of nationalism and historical antagonism that could erupt and undermine the good relations built over the years. War is no longer an option today and the earlier the root for future wars be killed and cleared, the better for all the countries in the region. Holding on to war loots is untenable and will need to be addressed and return at some point in time.

Would Japan seize the moment and rise above selfish individual and national pride to ride this new wave of economic cooperation with its neighbours? Or would Japan arrogantly and stubbornly want to hold on to the islands it grabbed from its neighbours and eventually rekindle a bitter war of mutual self destruction? Is it worth clinging onto other people’s islands?

Boiling the daft Sinkies

Believe it! Only $99,999. This is the price for a 1,600cc saloon car, inclusive of COE. And Sinkies are rushing to the showrooms because COE price is cheap, down $2000 from $75,000 to $73,000.

They cannot remember or did not know that such a car would likely cost not more than $30,000 in many countries or the cost is only $20k to bring in. Cheap, cheap, cheap because yesterday was priced at $100k.

The same mentality is the thinking about housing prices. Cheap, cheap, cheap cause it is 1% down.

Don't forget CPF withdrawal age and minimum sum.

PR complained about Sinkies.

Below is a post in TRE of a PR complaining about Sinkies being anti foreigners. And below this there is a complaint by a Sinkie about foreign banks discriminating against Sinkies on employment opportunities in Citibank, also posted in TRE.

“A Singapore Permanent Resident (PR) from Malaysia, Albert Tye has written to the Straits Times forum imploring Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong to crack down on critics of the government’s ‘rational’ immigration policy.

Mr Tye started by blasting netizens for attacking immigrants online:

The behaviour of some netizens not only reflect poorly on Singaporeans, their postings are also extremely offensive. Netizens have been getting away – and going overboard – with their anti-new immigrant postings with impunity; particularly in attacks against mainland Chinese.”

This is the second posting by a Leroy Tan to Tan Chuan Jin.

‘Dear Sir, It has come to my attention that Citibank IT employs less than 15% Singaporeans. The rest are all foreigners.

One may argue that we don’t have enough manpower to support their operations but why are the foreigners from one specific country?

Are the rest of the Asian countries having the same problem as well?

In addition, Citibank IT only gets their staff from the following hr vendors and none of them are local.

1. Infosys

2. Nucleus

3. IFlex

4. Polaris

And from what I gathered, they ain’t cheap. Their salary ranges between $4000-$6000. I just have 1 question, why the discrimination?’

The two posts speak badly of Sinkies as a people, as citizens of a country when they are treated as shit by foreigners. The PR has the audacity to call on the PM to what, to ‘crack down’ on Sinkie critics who are against the rational immigration policy. To many Sinkies it is irrational policy and badly managed and that is why there are so much pains and complaints. The fact that a PR thinks it is okay to dismiss Sinkies in Sinkieland speaks a lot about the respect they had for Sinkies. Basically Sinkies are just shit in their eyes.

And if the complaint about discrimination in Citibank is true, then Sinkies are even shittier when they are discriminated by a foreign bank in their home country that gave the bank a licence to operate. Now the issue is whether there is discrimination and whether it can be proven. I hope it cannot be proven and everything is proper. If it is proven to be so, I dunno where to hide my face as a Sinkie.

What do you think?

Singapore model of multi racial society not perfect

Many countries today are multi racial in composition, from the US in the west to the Philippines in the east, from China in the north to Australia in the South. The racial mix differs from country to country with some with the majority veering towards near absolute but not many are about evenly split. The latter is likely to see unending bickering for power, like a two party system.

There are absolute majority countries with the majority taking advantage of the minorities and discriminating against them in a whole range of social, economic and political matters. There are also instances of a minority discriminating against the majority when they own the gun, like in South Africa during days of apartheid and in the Middle East.

In general, it is always the majority taking advantage of the minorities and forcing their wills on them. Singapore has an absolute Chinese majority and it is one of the exception where discrimination against the minorities is the least and often have to bend backwards to accommodate the interests of the minorities. The minorities are still unhappy for some of the discrimination they are experiencing, though not life threatening or overt oppression. It is still far from being ideal, far from being good, but still one of the best in the world as far as ethnic relations and living together as a country of many races. There are still pockets of hardcore individuals that would be very racial in their thinking and behavior, but not as a group behavior.

Would Singapore be better off with a more even distribution in its racial composition? Or would it be better if there is an absolute Malay majority in power, or an absolute Indian majority in power? Theoretically every group will think it will be better if their racial group is in power and they would or could be more generous, merciful and magnanimous to the minorities. Would that be the natural outcome? What do you think?

A little trivial

The ongoing court cases about adults visiting underage prostitutes have thrown out many lessons and the do’s and don’ts for paid lust. The first and most important thing to take note is to ask the prostitute for her age to determine if she is underage, under 18. This seems to be the biggest mistake of the customers who were being prosecuted in court and sentenced to imprisonment. In their hurry to satisfy their animal lust they forgot to ask her age. Maybe their papa or mama did not teach them this. Maybe the school system also failed to teach them this street smart SOP. So you guys wanting to be naughty, this is lesson number one.

There are other questions to be asked but have not surfaced yet. One question is to determine the employment status of the prostitute. Is she here on a student pass or employment pass? I think if she is a student, then she should not be in business. It is a violation of the Immigration law and doing business with her could be an offence.

Another question is her legal status. Is she a legal or illegal immigrant. Obviously an illegal immigrant should not be here. Customers must ask or could be found to be playing with illegal immigrants and condoning their illegal stay.

So remember, ask their age, employment and legal status. Of course must also ask if they are AIDS free or disease free. Compile a checklist to be safe and don’t gabra when the light dims. Caveat emptor.