The National Conversation so far

It was touted as the conversation for all Singaporeans to have a say in what kind of future they want for Singapore and their children. This is as national as it could get. Somehow the other part of Singapore is not being represented, the political oppositions that don’t agree with the govt’s point of view. The fact that none of them seems to be included or invited to join the conversation is beginning to tell. You cannot have a National Conversation by excluding 40 per cent or more of the population to call it a National Conversation.

And as some bloggers have pointed out, it has drifted towards a conversation of the converts, of the ‘safe’ people who share the same belief and ideology of the govt, of what the govt thinks is good for the whole population.

What makes this task predictable is that the converts would agree with the agenda and would not stray to topics or issues that have been OB marked. Some things are just not meant to be discussed and have already been pronounced as good forever, despite the claims of no stone unturned.

The National Conversation is looking like a divisive conversation dividing the ‘with us and the against us’, but including some the fence sitters. The eventual recommendations will not be too far off from the findings of the Ministerial Salary Review Committee, a recommendation that is expected and put up by like minded people. How different the recommendations would be if the members were neutral and have no political affiliation or interests.

And, how different would the findings of a committee and audience in this National Conversation when the composition of the participants already in a big way predetermined the agenda and the outcome? The future that is desired would be very similar to the future envisaged by the govt, more immigrants, bigger population, more growth, work till one drops dead, higher property prices, higher cost of living, no free lunch with some exceptions, and please, do talk or ask question about the CPF savings and its future.

A naked Japanese lie

The ownership of Diaoyutai is now the hottest topic in East Asia and could turn into an open military conflict. The conflicting claims to the island put set aside by Deng Xiaoping and the Japanese govt for the near future and to be determined by the wisdom of future generations. This brought about a period of stability when things were kept at status quo.

The latest development arose when Japan fabricated a lie, producing a Japanese owner of the island and trying to conduct a sales/purchase agreement of the island among the Japanese militants and the Japanese govt, ignoring completely the rights and interest of China and the sensitivity of the Chinese people.

Since the annexation of the island, which is a historical fact in 1895, Diaoyutai was officially taken over by the Japanese and renamed Senkaku. The Japanese even quoted its authority over the island by this official commentary, ‘Japan incorporated the Islands into Okinawa Prefecture after conducting thorough surveys from 1885 on, while ascertaining carefully that these islands had been uninhabited and showed no trace of having been under the control of any state including China.’

The arrogant Japanese ignored completely the ownership of the island by China since the Ming Dynasty in the 15^th Century, and as they put it, since nobody was there when they conducted the survey, they could take it over. This kind of arrogant logic would allow Japan to take over any island even today if they conduct a survey and conclude by themselves that no one was controlling it. There must be plenty of islands in the Philippines and Indonesia that can be annexed by the Japanese.

Diaoyutai is no uninhabited island in the vast Pacific Ocean. It was Chinese territory since the Ming Dynasty. And Japan is claiming that those were not historical records but the annexation of the island in 1895 was. No need to look further back.

The situation has come to a boil and it may be time for China to reclaim the islands and help the Liuchiu Islanders to regain their independence from Japan. The Liuchiu Islands, annexed by Japan and called Ryukyu Islands, were an independent kingdom that paid homage to the Qing Dynasty. The islands are now sacrificed as the military base of the US and host to nuclear weapons. They would have to bear the brunt of a first attack should war breaks out. It would be opportune for the islanders to declare independence from Japan and become an independent country again, free from foreign dominations, and free from the risk of a nuclear attack.

China has sent 6 surveillance ships to patrol the Diaoyiutai and would encounter the patrol ships of the Japanese coast guard. This is no time for blinking, having come so far, with the Japanese acting more aggressively in their claim on the island. A stand off and naval clash is unavoidable with the Japanese govt officially fabricating and pushing this naked lie of ownership of the island. It is unimaginable that China would surrender its territory for a naked lie.

China would not tolerate another Marco Polo Bridge Incident again and fighting Japan is a must if the provocation continues. The wisdom of the future generations appears to be now.

The Prosecutor

A piece of rar art created by Mother Nature.

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.