US a convenient scapegoat in Arab World

My dentures almost flew out when I saw this heading in the ST yesterday, of an article by Jonathan Eyal. He went on to describe the hatred for Americans by the Arabs as, ‘instinctive and often irrational hatred of the US remains one of the region’s most depressingly common features.’

The Americans and the Western journalists and their world view still believe that the Arabs are daft and unthinking primeval tribes that did not know what is going on to their countries? They believe that they could continue to bully and oppress the Arabs, divide and rule, and exploit them for their oil and oil money while running their economies to ruins with wars and sanctions.

The depressing thing is that the Americans and the West really believe so, that by telling the Arabs that they are their saviours, they could do anything they want to them, bombing their countries to ruins, killing the Arabs without acknowledging that they are also human beans, and conveniently calling them collateral damages.

The rise of nationalism after WW2 had swept across the world to liberate countries and people from the imperialists and colonial West. Unfortunately this liberating force is still not enough to help the Arab World to break free from the Western domination of their countries and people. Now there is an even more powerful force, the power of religion that tells the Arabs to die for the honour of Allah, people and country. And terrorism becomes a part of their lives. Believe me, the Americans and the West are blind to these forces. Seeing the dictatorial regimes as opportunities to increase their influence in the region, the West masterminded and bankrolled small dissident groups to over throw the established govts only to find that the new comers were all steeped in their religious cause and more anti American and the West than the dictatorial regimes. And they are even more gungho, more deadly, with Allah as their reason to die for.

The Americans are convenient scapegoat? Nay, the Americans are simply enemy Number One. The Arabs know who their enemies are. It is not a naïve interpretation of scapegoat or irrational hatred. It is deep seated hatred built up over the years by western domination and oppression.

Can the Americans and the West get it? Sending in more warships and inciting more regime changes? This is the 21st Century. The Arabs cannot be blinkered forever. Once they band together as an anti American and anti Western force, they are a very formidable force to deal with. How long can the western tactic of divide and rule be effective and to prolong the domination and oppression of the Arab World?

This latest provocation against the Arab World is unnecessary and would only fume their anger and hate for the Americans and the West to a greater height. Who is the real mastermind in the movie? The result is staggering and the consequences are grave. Please, the Arabs are not idiots and definitely not daft.

An economic and military East Asia Pact

China, the Koreas and Taiwan should sit together and work out an economic and military pact in the face of unceasing territorial aggression by an incalcitrant militant Japan. Japan is still arrogantly sticking to its militaristic past and wanting to hold on to the war loots it seized from its neighbouring countries. And they would not return them unless defeated in a war.

And the Japanese Foreign Minister, Koichiro Gemba, got the cheek to call on the Chinese and Koreans to remain calm in the wake of Japanese reasserting their control over the islands taken from the two countries from conquest, and to look at the bigger picture. What bigger picture? The bigger picture is that it is time for Japan to return the war loots if it ever thinks of having a cordial and lasting relationship with its neighbours. Do the Japanese really believe that the Chinese and Koreans would accept the loss of their territories and would take that lying down and the Japanese peeing on their faces? It is a national shame, national humiliation, every day the islands are in the control of the Japanese.

The Chinese, Koreans and Taiwanese should form an economic/military pact to deal with Japan directly. Not only the Japanese and Americans can sign military pact. Take on the Japanese economically and if necessary, militarily, if the Japanese persist in humiliating their neighbours by not returning the islands looted from them. No more trades with Japan for a start by the three countries and be prepared for war as the Japanese are infamous for sneak attacks, like Pearl Harbour.

After banding, what’s next?

The quashing of the banding system for schools seems to be a most welcomed move by parents, educators and students. Although it is symbolic, it is still a big step forward to want to change, to want to listen to the people, to want to do good for education and make the parents happy. Malaysia made that move many years ago when parents complained that it was too difficult to use the English Language, and they took English out of their system. We almost took Mandarin out of our system as well. Any way the standard of Mandarin taught in schools today is way below par from yesteryears.

Before people get too excited and go overboard with the relac mentality, before we enter the age of narcissism, let’s look at the status of our education system and its products. Is our education really good? Are the products really first class? I am putting aside the other greater values of education, like opening the mind to see the real world, critical thinking, an educated and better person, values, goodness etc etc.

For the first question, relatively, yes. Compare to the third world countries, we have a good education system. Or at least the infrastructure and the hardware are first class, brand new and with modern comfort and facilities.

What about the quality question? Forget about the older generations of leaders that were mostly the products of foreign universities. In fact many of our top talents in govt are also products of foreign world class universities. What does this say of the quality of our local education?

In the employment scene, are our local products, all those with straight As, good enough? I think so, at the middle management level. Would they also be good at the top management level? This is a tricky question. Apparently it seems that our local products are not good enough for top level management, both in the govt and private sector. In those govt positions where there is no competition from foreigners, it is hard to tell.

And many organisations, including govt linked organisations, are happily recruiting foreigners or foreign educated professionals in preference to local graduates. Why? Foreigners are cheaper or are foreigners better? If foreigners are found better, then we have a problem, a real problem. And if foreigners are from third world countries and found to be better to boss around with our world class straight A products, now this is not funny. It simply says that our super products are useless or not worth their grades on paper.

The situation on the employment scene is not speaking very well of our local products. And this is in spite of the high pressure cooker system, including banding and branding of schools, to squeeze out the best from each cohorts. Would it be worst if the high pressure is slackened to appease the parents? Would we produce junks that are not even good enough to work in third world countries when everything is relaxed? Can we afford to lower our standards, make schooling fun and stress free as all parents and children would love to have, and everyday a happy and carefree day, a fun day in schools?

How far and how low would the education system go when we are not even producing graduates that can compete with third world countries even now? Would there be a day when all the top and senior managements must be imported, from third world countries, to manage our happy and stress free products from our friendly and wholesome education system?

What do you think? Did anyone say levelling down? There must be competition to get the best to be the best. There must also be moderation so that those that are meant for better things in other fields could excel and not feel dumped into the rubbish heap. Let’s not have an Olympic Games to compete for sportsmanship and not to excel. There can be another Olympic Games for other purposes like not winning and every participants would come home with a medal, the same medal for everyone to make everyone happy.

Will there be a shift in the direction and mission of our education system?

The first pain in Middle East

After lording and messing around with the lives of the Arabs, and killing so many of them, the Americans are tasting the first bitterness of their aggressive intent in the region. Bombing Libya, killing Gaddafi, turning the country in civil war and probably messed up for the next 30 years, the table turned yesterday. The Libyans turned their guns at the US Ambassador Chris Stevens. He was killed with 3 other officers.

And Hillary gasped, ‘How could this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save?’ She believed that the Americans were there to liberate and save the Libyans. Did she ask the Libyans if that is what they wanted and what they asked for? Or was the help unilaterally offered, like it was good for the Libyans and must be done? The pain of war so far is only felt by the Arabs, not the warmongers.

Now the answer came from the Libyans, a kind of thank you America, for killing Gaddafi and turning their country into ruins. And here is our present and our gratitude. You can bring the present home in black plastic bags.

A country that makes war a way of living will have war brought into its home soil.

Sinkies are not xenophobic

The accusation and branding of Sinkies as xenophobic is simply bad. It must not be allowed to stick. Sinkies have never been xenophobic. Other than some bad encounters with criminals, most visitors or foreigners working here have pleasant experience and memories to bring home with them. Many also have enjoyed the hospitality and generosity of Sinkies when they were here and some when in deep trouble. Those who have bad experience here are the racists that would not find any place good enough for them, not even their own countries. They will be the first to bad mouth any country that welcomed them to stay.

Sinkies must protest against this unjust labeling as anti foreigners. No one from any country would want their home to be flooded by so many foreigners in so short a span of time and with the infrastructure stretching and barely able to cope. The anger of Sinkies is not against the foreigners but against the policy of having too many foreigners leading to over crowding, unwanted competition, high cost of living, and a better future for our children.

No, Sinkies are definitely not xenophobic. Sinkies must denounce this xenophobic branding. It is having too many foreigners that is hurting the average Sinkies. The only good that can come from this branding is to frighten foreigners from thinking that Sinkieland is a good option to migrate.