Warren Fernandez, official or personal views?

Warren Fernandez is a very powerful man in ST, in shaping opinions of the paper and its influence on its readers. He is writing quite regularly now and the White Paper and the immigrant issue are hot topics to involve him personally and directly. He wrote another piece on Sunday about how the people were so stupid not to see the ageing problems and how the able Govt was working so hard to do the necessary. He did not ask why a super talented Govt, paid the highest in the world, could not nip this problem in the bud and allowing it to grow and become a national crisis? He did not ask why after importing nearly 2m people in slightly more than a decade into the island did not help at all, did not alleviate the ageing problem but instead added to the problem. Would adding more immigrants solve the problem in the future or would it just be like now, add into the problem to create an even bigger problem to be relieved by even bigger population later on, the perfect Ponzi solution?
Was Warren Fernandez writing in his personal capacity, or in the capacity of the top guy in ST, or was he speaking as a representative of the official view, a Govt view? The gist of his article can be summed up by these few paragraphs.

‘Some have begun to mouth empty slogans such as “Singapore for Singaporeans” or “born and bred Singaporeans”. There was even on outlandish posting on Facebook calling for “ethnic cleansing of FTs from Singapore”…The idea is absurd. Where would we draw the line separating “born and bred” Singaporeans from others to be spurned – 1965? If so, many of us would have to disavow our own parents or grandparents as interlopers. Or should we push it back to 1819? In that case, most of us, except for a few Malay families, would have to pack up and ship out to wherever our ancestors came from.’

From these two paragraphs, it is very clear where he is coming from. Rubbishing ideas like “Singapore for Singaporeans” or “born and bred Singaporeans” are as good as telling the Sinkies to go fuck off, there is no such things as true blue Singaporeans. Anyone given a pink IC is a Singaporean. This is the official view I am sure. The Govt is planning to bring in more foreigners to be given the pink IC to be counted as Singaporeans. Who cares about born and bred Singaporeans? This is high falutin surely, an aspiration only for those who think they are true blue Singaporeans. Sinkies better get use to it.

The idea of true blue Sinkies is absurd. Really? The people in Hong Lim will disagree. They know and regard themselves as true blue Sinkies. That’s why they came, with no fear of rain or lightning. There are Sinkies that do not want to acknowledge the true blue Sinkies. They are entitled to their opinion. Warren added with the fake ignorance of small boy argument about where to start, 1965, 1819, or may I add to make it more ridiculous, from Adam and Eve. This is the same kind of evasive thought like what Tan Chuan Jin said in Parliament. How to define a true blue Singaporean? Where to start, so difficult leh. When super talents find it difficult, it must be really difficult ya?

Is that so, or just a denial, refusing to want to look at it? Why don’t apply the mean testing formula? I think it will work quite well with a little modification. Personally I find the mean testing formula hideous and wicked, but when the Govt wants to do it, whatever nonsensical formula, even the raising of GST to help the poor will be good and logical.

I don’t think it is so difficult to define what is a true blue Singaporean and not having to kick the butts of our parents and grandparents into the shit hole in doing so. As a Singaporean, I am offended by anyone who rubbishes the idea of a true blue Singaporean. Our parents and grand parents did not build this country for foreigners to take advantage of our children and grandchildren. We have to take care of ourselves and our future generations. It is for them that this country exists for. Otherwise everything we do is foolish, useless and futile, especially NS.

And in order to protect our future children, the descendants of true blue Sinkies, you see, I refuse to define what this means because all true blue Sinkies understand what it means except those who refuse to want to know. We must know who we are. We are Singaporeans by birth and by long residence and commitments to this country. We are no longer passing by, we are stayers, not quitters. We are the owners of this island. This is home to true blue Singaporeans, not to fair weather economic migrants.

Does Warren Fernandez believe in ‘Singapore for Singaporeans’ and in true blue or born and bred Singaporeans? He said these were empty slogans. Does the govt believe in true blue Singaporeans or not? Or shall there be a new slogan, Singapore is an international city for people all over the world, not only for Singaporeans.

What do you think?

Paving the way for the extinction of Sinkies in Sin City

The White Paper wanted a 55% Sinkie core in 2030 with a population of 6.9m. It could make it more palatable by claiming that the Sinkie core will be 80% by offering citizenship to all the residents, PRs or what not that are working here and telling the daft Sinkies that the Sinkies are forming 80% of the core population.

As long as the true blue Sinkie core is diminishing against the PRs and new citizens in the population, it is shrinking or dying and would eventually become an absolute minority if it is not already the case. Just remove the new citizens, say those who have been granted citizenship in the last 10 years and see how many true blue citizens are left. The number can be shocking. Any investigative journalist dares to take on this unpopular and politically incorrect revelation?

Given the assumption that the foreigners are hungrier, more talented, more willing to reproduce, have the habit of bringing along their fathers and mothers, father in laws and mother in laws and siblings, the granting of a citizenship to a couple could mean an entourage of a small village tacking along. And their drive for a better life, their more abrasive and aggressive and competitive spirit would only drive away more Sinkies to foreign shores, or the meek that were left behind, to hide indoors or may just shift their asses to Johore.

While the true blue Sinkies become less competitive, less productive and making lesser babies, the foreigners or new citizens are going the other way. These natural trends of progression will in no time turn the true blue Sinkies to extinction in the island. And the new owners of the island would then show their generosity and magnanimity by setting up special corners of the islands or small islands as reservations to protect the true blue Sinkies from disappearing altogether in a revived and vibrant immigrant city.

The road has been paved for the extinction of Sinkies in their homeland without the Sinkies knowing what is happening. Please welcome the foreigners, immigrants and all to save this City, to keep it more vibrant.

The convenient lies of liars

In the last few days many would have been familiar with the phrase, ‘I am speaking in my own capacity’, or ‘I am writing in my own capacity’. See, what do these phrases mean? It’s elementary. They are saying that in their own private or personal capacity this is their view, this is what they think or will say. And, if they are speaking or writing on behalf of an organisation or in a non personal capacity, they will say differently, their views will not be the same.

So which is their real view, the one when representing an organisation with a title stuck on it, or the one that has no title but just their names? One must be a distorted or untrue views, or a lie or a half truth isn’t it? Or is it about political correctness?

Heheheh, I am writing this in my own private capacity. What do you think?

A walk into the recent past

Throw back to the 40s, 50s, or even early 60s, there were probably a million people here, or lesser in the 40s. Many were stateless, new migrants allowed to work but no citizenship status. They just fended for themselves under the colonial administration that would be very happy as long as there was no problem from the population of migrants. The migrants knew their station in life and kept to themselves, away from the law, and just worked and lived.

The long arm of the law was thin and short. Land was aplenty, state land, neglected land or untended land everywhere, officially owned by the colonial Govt. The migrants came and looked for a place to stay. Many were herded into the cubicles of Chinatown for the Chinese while the Indians would have their own appointed corner in the island. I was at Thian Hock Keng a couple of days ago and could not imagine that some 80 years ago my parents were standing in front of ‘Ma Cho’ praying at the very same spot that I stood before settling down in this island.

They were not so fortunate but braved the uncertainties and unknown, moved to the foothill of Mount Faber where a Malay kampong Radin Mas stood. At the fringes of the kampong they simply erected a hut from whatever wood available and there was instant home. Many migrants did just that, built themselves a home on any vacant land they could find, away from the kampongs or towns. And there were plenty of land all over the island. After sometimes they would become owner or official tenants of their huts. The ‘teh gus’ would come to register their huts and a official address was given, and that was it. It was like finder’s keepers. I think in the early days there was a law that said once a person occupied a land, built his hut, and lived there after some years, then the land became his, or something like that. It was like choped choped, but not with tissue papers.

And this was not too long ago. The early years of colonial Singapore when the island was too large to administer and too few people to fill up the vacant land. Land was not scarce like today. It is all relativism. Try imagine 2030. Everything will be scarce except people in this island.

Friends at Hong Lim Spring

Below are a couple of photos of some friends that I met at Hong Lim during the protest rally on 6 Feb.