Punggol East, a case of wild ambition and rash men

The by election in Punggol East was meant to be a serious and well considered affair. The residents will have to decide to elect a representative to parliament. There was a certain understanding based on past practices and agreements of the opposition camp that it would be a WP contest against the PAP. Everyone has that kind of expectation. What has happened is something that is shocking beyond belief, that it is like a mad movie from some third world country, with every bum thinking that it is party time, and everyone wants to be invited.

We would expect the potential candidates, those aspiring to be national leaders, to be calm, cool and calculative, men of depth, of wisdom, to think about this matter seriously before they make any move or statement to contest the election. Other than SPP and NSP, two parties that are looking sensible and looking more sensible than before when other parties are looking not only foolish but moronic. We have heard of the two bizarre proposals by SDP and Reform Party to WP that they want a piece of the cake, with heads I win tail you lose terms. And they seriously believed that it is a fair and good deal.

What are these two parties thinking in the first place? Do they really think they are so important, so relevant and have the support of the people that they could dictate their wills on the most credible opposition party, making one sided demands as being fair to all?  This thinking is at party level. The comments by the potential candidates from these parties are equally clueless. They are all ready to charge over the cliff. Do they really think they have any ounce of chances to win against the ruling party in a multi corner fight? And these are supposed to be sensible and intelligent men, to lead the people and to represent the people’s interests. Can the people support such men when they are coming across as reckless and mindless individuals with only wild ambition in between their ears? They are just there to tikam tikam, even knowing that their chances of success are as good as zero. They simply don’t care. Can such men be reliable and dependable to make reasonable and logical decisions when needed to when voted into parliament? Or would they also adopt the same tikam tikam mentality on national issues?

The frightening part is that these men could not see their own folly, and they are strutting around like gladiators, so proud and happy that they are the best to offer to the voters. Can they be taken seriously? The people of Punggol East, and the people of this country deserve better and more sensible men to represent them in parliament and as national leaders. If what is happening is going to turn to reality, that wild and reckless men with little brains are going to be elected to parliament, then the people really deserve to be screwed. But this need not be the case as the voters today are not as daft as the pretentious politicians to be. Just because fools and idiots joined a political party and have the money to lose, it does not mean that the people will be as foolish as them.

It is really an eye opener to see the true persons behind the hustling and the quality of their thinking. I should say the lack of quality in their thoughts. Even before the real hustling has started, it is looking so disappointing. Every one is nothing but a joke.

Punggol East and the lunatic fringe

The three letters sent by SDP and its contents are out in the media. The SDP called it a win win win proposal. They believe it in. They believe that it is a brilliant proposal. I think only lunatics will believe so. It is right that the WP ignored this madness completely and not to waste time on something that bothers on pomposity and self delusion. It is simply rash thinking bordering on hallucination. I could add a few more silly comments about this proposal. It is frightening that the SDP think it is their best shot, a work of genius. With this proposal I think SDP has written itself into history. I don’t anyone will take this party seriously any more. SDP has nothing to prove anymore.

In the last GE there was a certain understanding, a common purpose, to get more opposition party candidates into parliament. And they worked at their very best to prevent a three corner fight. The opposition parties were praised for doing just that.

In the Punggol East by election, it is now about helping the PAP to get its candidate into parliament. The opposition parties are trying their level best to prevent the WP candidate from getting into parliament.

In an article written by Kor Kian Beng, a News Analyst from ST yesterday, he floated the idea that the opposition parties are wary that the WP will be getting too popular and strong for their own good. They need to bring down WP or hold it back so that they too would stand a better chance in the GE. Now they fear the WP more than the PAP.

This I think is a tongue in cheek comment. The opposition parties, other than the WP, could not even get themselves elected. What is there to fear the WP? They need to make themselves credible and elected first before thinking of undermining other opposition parties. Maybe Kor Kian Beng is right. The mentality of the opposition parties is just so shallow that they could not see anything further than the tip of their noses. So, in this by election, the target is the WP. Bring down WP at all cost.

What a hilarious bunch of clowns!

Property curbs to prevent a balloon

We all heard it last night. The Govt is introducing its seventh cooling measures to curb a runaway property market that is getting out of control. The details are in the media and I would not want to repeat them here. What was astonishing is that it took six cooling measures and nothing seemed to work. If the six measures were ideas from some third world half baked govts, I can understand. But there were carefully crafted by super talents that are being paid in the millions and they did not work, failed to work! And now the seventh measures touted as the harshest. Really? Is it going to work?

The best part is that the Govt still think that there is no bubble yet. And these measures are still timely to prevent a bubble from forming. According the Tharman, the prices are running ahead of fundamentals. This must be a great revelation.

Both Tharman and Boon Wan appeared together to meet the Press. It used to be just Boon Wan alone and he was always full of confidence, the man in charge, the problem solver. He volunteered to take over this office from Mah Bow Tan.

Last night Boon Wan was a shadow of himself, looking haggard and depressed. What did that tell? Was Boon Wan finding that he had ran out of ideas or was it that he thought nothing needed to be done as his six cooling measures were good enough. And he was depressed because the DPM had told him off, and the DPM was taking charge of the problem, to deal with the problem in a targeted and more effective way. There was no doubt that the property prices are now in high heavens and intoxicating. The prices are at very dangerous level now and a collapse is not only imminent, natural and very painful, but will hurt many people. And since Boon Wan is unable to deal with it, Tharman had to come in to show some leadership and mean business.

My feeling is that Boon Wan has let the prices gone too wild and it is beyond his control, and serious damage has been done. A lot of money has been sucked into properties and pray that there is no crash or many would have to jump off their million or multi million dollar apartments when that day comes.

Tharman is now in charge. Let’s see if he could do better, or is it too late as the ginny has bolted out of the bottle.

COE and population growth

The number of cars allowed on our roads is reaching its limits. The capacity of our trains is also reaching its limits and showing increasing signs of breaking down.  No? How much more can be built to cater to public transport infrastructure without bursting the national purse or causing the commuters an arm or a leg? Private transport is now like a highway robber demanding a hundred thousand just for a pass. And the Govt claims there is no other way. The roads are congested, there is just not enough land to build more roads. Oh, can build one more level of roads over existing roads. Sure, how much and where is the money coming from?

There is no need to engage a foreign consultant or even a professor from the universities to confirm that there is just no more elbow room to move around. And LTA is shrinking the number of COEs available by the days. It has to, a necessary and tough decision. Of course if we have not flooded the city with so many people and build up every little nooks and corners, we may not be in the current fix.

What about another 700,000 in the pipeline waiting to join us? How is this going to affect our infrastructure, housing and roads? Is it a good thing, and is it avoidable or do we have to face more stringent measures once they are here and what are the reasons, got no choice? The choice is now, to stop more people coming in. I will touch on the property bubble in another post.

Terra Nullius and the South China Sea

The concept of terra nullius was quite a natural law in the days of yore and the world was sparsely inhabited. The original man just moved around and lived wherever they set foot on. They behaved like the animals, marked their territories they were able to control by might. This concept took a big change when the Western Empires set out to claim the world. Stamford Raffles founded Singapore. Columbus founded North America and so on and on. The Europeans totally ignored what terra nullius was all about. The natives were transparent. And if they put up a fight, they would be terminated. Anyone heard of what happened to the North American natives? They used to call them Red Indians. And Africa was there to grab, the natives were not recognized as the finders. And the European started to invent their laws, interpret their laws to their advantage. The land, terra nullius, was applicable as long as the natives could not define statehood in the European context. They took both north and south America, Africa, India, South East Asia and Australia and New Zealand and many islands far and wide in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Now, what is so outrageous or ambitious about China claiming a little piece of the South China Sea in the name of terra nullius when the Europeans had claimed the whole world? And finder’s keepers was the first right of mankind. The islands were found by China centuries back when the South East Asian countries were only rowing in sampans and little craft that would not float when a few kilometers out in the South China Seas. Only the fleet of China ships could sail and visit these little islands in the South China Seas and thus claiming ownerships on the ground of terra nullius. Pedra Branca too was a case of terra nullius. Imagine these little rocks were only a few kilometers out in the sea and the natives did not even know of their existence. How would they know of the existences of the rocks and little islands in the middle of the South China Seas? Not only they did not know, when China was marking these islands and landing in them, the natives in South East Asia were not even recognizable states in the European context. When did they become independent nation states? 1940s, 1950s? Hey many of us are even older than these South East Asian states.

China has to claim them and hold on to them before the Americans and now the Indians move in for the spoils. Any weakness in China and reluctance to wield the big stick will see the islands going to the next most powerful military state. So, what should China do? Allow everyone to claim a piece of its islands like the European powers claiming a part of China in the 19th Century?