The Foreign Concessions

In the dark days of Chinese history, China was branded the Sick Man of Asia. In its own territories there were places designated as foreign concessions, The British Concession, French Concession, Japanese Concession, Russian, American etc etc . In these concessions, the foreign powers ran the places like their colonies, their own laws, police, and treated the Chinese as foreigners to be victimized and kicked around. They have no regards or respect to the Chinese who owned the land that sat the concessions. They humiliated the Chinese and ignored the catchphrase, 打狗看主人, or showing some deference to the owner before whacking the dog.

I was reading the plight of the local PMETs in Gilbert’s Transitioning.Org and could see the similarities in concessions being sprouted in this little island whereby foreigners held the locals in contempt and treating them as pariahs. I hope the cases mentioned in Gilbert’s blog are not true and not even exceptions. Sinkies cannot be treated as pariahs by foreigners in their own land. Sinkies cannot have concessions in their own country where Sinkies are bullied by foreigners. When foreigners did that, it is the end of the nation. Foreigners should try to belittle the locals in the Middle East and see what will happen to them.

But it cannot be true here. It must be Sinkies bullying the foreigners and that is why we have this integrate the foreigners call, help and love the foreigners campaign. Incidentally the foreigner that bashed a local taxi driver, a Sinkie, has returned to face judgment. Another two bashers were still at large. Let’s try to integrate this Sinkie basher since he is already given a PR as reported. He can become one of us. Maybe he can then direct his disgust at foreigners when he becomes a Sinkie.

Are there foreign concessions in Sinkieland where Sinkies are ill treated, mistreated and their presence unwelcomed? Have Sinkies lost their country?

What do you think?

The owner of this bull is having a party. His manager told him the bull is in the pink of health. Some suggested blowing hot air into its arse and it will spring to life.

What do you think?

China again the Sick Man of Asia

Despite its new status as the second super power, China is behaving like the Sick Man of Asia once again. And Japan is treating China as such and telling the Chinese it is ok. They are going to proceed with a scam to buy Chinese islands they looted from China during the days of gunboat diplomacy and Unequal Treaties. And they even said the Chinese would not feel hurt.

The whole episode tells two things. The Japanese are back to their militaristic past and will gang bang China and think they can get away with it. On the part of China, it is behaving like the Sick Man of Asia of the past, allowing the Japanese to kick it around at will.

Though it is China’s policy of not bullying a smaller nation, and trying to use diplomacy to solve international problems, Japan is no small power but a military power in its own right. It is bullying China and not the other way. Japan is not the Philippines or Vietnam. It is necessary to stand up to this militaristic nation that is bent to assume its imperial past as a military power.

China cannot avoid a conflict with Japan as Japan believes it can take on China. China cannot avoid trouble when trouble comes knocking at its door. Like the saying, 无事不早事，有事不怕事, China have to act in the Diaoyu case. Once the Japanese get away with the buying and selling of Diaoyu and China could not do anything about it, it becomes a fait accompli, a justification to be used in the future to strengthen the Japanese claim on the island.

It is time to send in the naval ships to patrol the island, and even erect a sentry post to tell the Japanese China means business. As Deng Xiaoping said, sovereignty is not negotiable. Definitely China cannot negotiate with the conniving and cheating Japanese. Doing nothing is not an option and will be seen as a sign of weakness, and in the Japanese mind, inviting trouble.

Pension gone!

Read in the paper that the pensions for office holders, MPs and top govt officers have been scrapped. I presume office holders include ministers as well. And those still serving, on reaching 55 and eligible for pension will not be able to get paid their pension together with their monthly salary, which in toto, is getting two salaries at the same time instead of one.

As they said, things that cannot stand the scrutiny of justice and fairness will have to go when discovered. The principle of clean wage system as Chee Hean said, must stay clean. Anything unclean must go. The disturbing question is how could unclean stuff get into a clean system manned by highly honourable and righteous men and women?

This one is definitely not about bad policy, just unclean.

Consequences of bad govt policies

When a murderer killed his victim, only the victim and his closed ones would suffer the consequences and live with the pain. Even if the murderer killed two victims, at most 4 families will be badly affected. When someone in govt makes a bad policy, thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions will be affected, good or bad. The karmic retribution is not some to fiddle with and to be ignored. When a bad policy affects thousands of people, the grievances and curses of the thousands of people would be directed at you know who.

The bad housing policy of the past decade is a ‘bad’ example of what bad policy is all about. Take the current revision of eligibility for singles to buy direct from HDB. If they were allowed to do so 10 years ago, they need not have to pay such a high price of today. Some may no longer be able to afford the current prices even from HDB as their income may not have kept pace with the price surge. Some may no longer be eligible as the 10 years could see their income exceeding the HDB ceiling. For those who could buy, the price is so much higher. They were all victims of bad policies.

The single mother and divorced parents too become victims with the runaway prices. Allowing them to buy now instead of 10 years ago is no real reprieve as the prices would be beyond many. They too would have to pay for the price of bad govt policies.

The policy of not building until the order book is full and the 4/5 year wait also affected many adversely in monetary terms. Many waited, from being eligible to ineligible as their incomes grew. Many Sinkies could not even buy a HDB flat while foreigners who just turn citizens could do so and profited from those Sinkies who were forced into the resale market, and to buy from the foreigners. How crude and callous could govt policies be, favouring foreigners and discriminating against its own citizens. Many have to pay so much more, like paying a fine for a crime, to buy from the resale market or the private developers. Could clever policy makers realise that something is wrong in their bad policies?

There are others who were affected not financially but equally bad. The haughty and arrogant demand that young people who want to buy flat better quickly get hitched to be eligible had seen many rushing to the ROM to register as man and wife. And after the 4/5 years’ wait, before the arrival of the flat, they could end up as divorcees, without even married in the traditional way. They could have still stay apart, like two individuals. Now they would be classified or known as divorcees. If the divorce gets through quickly and smoothly, things may not be so bad. Some drag on and on, all because of the edict from the HDB, get married or else no flat. And get married fast to get flat earlier.

Then there would be those who saw a good financial gain by getting married, get a flat, sell it for a good profit without thinking much. And by the time they sold their second flat, they will find themselves at the end of the road. No place to stay, no more HDB flats to buy except from the resale market. The profits they made could be enough to buy that new car that would no longer be new and gone in 10 years. So they ended in the beaches or the parks, or waiting for rental flats.

But not everyone is suffering. The happiest people are the new citizens who bought direct from HDB and could sell to these loser Sinkies at a huge profit and to renounce their citizenship and disappear. Great job and sure profit that daft Sinkies would have no choice but to pay.

Many Sinkies are badly affected by the bad housing policies. And there is no recourse, no restitution, no apologies, no regrets. It is just too bad. It is all their fault, not the bad policies. No policymaker has to miss a heart beat for these losers. They have all done their jobs very well.

While Boon Wan is still trying to unravel the mess, would he bother to look at those victims of the bad policies still hanging and dry? I doubt so. Not his problem. He did not create them. Life goes on and the thousands that were affected are history. How many were made much poorer, how many still cannot buy a HDB flat, how many are divorcees and unable to remarry because of their past status?