Nizam Ismail ‘forced’ to resign from AMP?

There is an article in Breakfast Network today on the circumstances leading to Nizam Ismail’s resignation from AMP. This news is also carried by the main media. Nizam is a lawyer and had spoken at the first protest rally at Hong Lim and is scheduled to speak again on May Day in a sequel to the first rally.

It was reported that ‘AMP had informed him over the weekend that two ministers had “expressed concern” about some critical views he had put forth online and his participation in two events….He said he was presented with two options. One, if he did not “tone down” his activities, the Govt would withdraw funding from AMP. Two, dissociate himself from AMP if he wanted to continue with civil society activities.

So Nizam has resigned as a Director of AMP. Looks like Nizam will probably launch his political career after this episode as he is obviously a concerned Singaporean who is passionate about the affairs of the state and people. Now, which political party will he join? Or would he be invited for tea and join the ruling party? He is definitely a good catch for any party given that he is a rare minority intellect. Good for Nizam to take up politics as this looks like a natural thing to do.

All the best Nizam.

Demon-cratic Singapore cartoon strip author Leslie Chew arrested

The author of this political comic strip, Leslie Chew, 37, was arrested by the Police last Friday and is out on a $10,000 bail. His offending acts were two cartoons, one that undermined the judiciary and another raising racial tension by stating that the Malay population was suppressed by a racist Govt. Both are seditious in nature and come under the Sedition Act.

Leslie Chew claimed in defense that his comics were fictional in nature and now it is up to the prosecutor and the court to decide his fate. Race and religion are very sensitive in this island and playing them up with the consequence of raising inter racial and religious tensions are serious in nature and the Govt is particularly sensitive to them.

Veritas has also been very vocal in his racial comments, including some posts in this blog. I would like to suggest to Veritas to be more circumspect in his postings and not to stray too near to the Sedition Act. We should comment fairly and objectively without getting too racist in our posts and avoid inciting hatred among the races and religious believers.

Everyone should take this seriously and take note that freedom of expression comes with responsibility too. And the more freedom we enjoyed, the greater is our responsibility and the more careful we should be with what we write and post.

I wish Leslie Chew well in this brush with the law.

Cheers.

The Japanese reviving their militant past

The Japanese parliamentarians trooped into Yasukuni to pay respect to war criminals that invaded, raped, looted and murdered the Asian countries during WW2. Abe skipped the visit but donated a pine tree to the temple. This is the first major affront to the invaded and colonized countries during Japan’s Imperial conquest of East and South East Asia.

China was furious and so was South Korea. The rest of South East Asia the reaction was muted. They could not feel the importance of the visit nor the impact and pain of the Japanese Occupation. Prime reason, all these countries were not countries then. They were all colonies of European Empires and Japan was just another empire. Only the deep cultural roots and nationalism of China and Korea could their people felt the grief and anger. Even Taiwan too could not feel much as many Taiwanese were recruited to fight for the Japanese Imperial Army.

The Japanese banquet at Yasukuni was followed by a flotilla of 10 ships and more than 80 Japanese attempting to land at Diaoyu Islands. China sent in 8 Surveillance ships to intercept them and prevent a landing. The Japanese sent in 13 Coastguard patrol craft to intercept the Chinese ships. And Abe threatened to use force if any Chinese should land at the islands. He did not threaten his Japanese for wanting to land in the islands nor try to stop them from landing.

The stage is set with an embolden Japan thinking that it can whip the Chinese and starting to talk down to the Chinese like they did in the days of Imperial Japan. Japan still thinks it is a more powerful country than China and would use the stick like it used to do. Of course the Americans are behind them.

Can China stand still and allow the Japanese to slap its face, left and right, and do nothing? For all its national pride and historical humiliation by Japan, China would have to stand up to the Japanese provocation with or without the Americans backing the Japs. China would have to repel the Japanese advances. It could also be a time for exacting revenge on the defeat by Japan in 1894. It could be a conventional warfare, a limited warfare involving air and sea, provided the Americans did not come in. If the Americans dare to meddle and raise the stake, a nuclear holocaust is the next offering.

The game of chicken is about who dares and who blinks. But this chicken game involves more than just being seen as who is more gungho. There are many national issues at stake and there is the risk of a nuclear war that would change the future of human civilization. Would the Americans think it is acceptable to go on to embolden the Japanese and engage in this war? This is not playing with fire and starting small fires. When lighted, it is beyond anyone’s control.

HDB income ceiling should/should not be removed

This has become another pointless controversy with Singaporeans splitted. Some have valid and logical reasons to take their stands. Some are making a stand for flawed or superficial logics.

As all citizens should be treated on an equal basis regardless of wealth, why should some be deprived of a basic right to buy a roof over their heads? A roof is a necessity and every Singaporeans need a place to stay. And every male Singaporean is expected to serve NS to defend his stake in this country. By depriving him from buying a home to stay, there is nothing for him to defend and to do NS.

Maybe the Govt should retain the income ceiling and any Singaporean that is not allowed to buy a public flat, ie no stake in the country, need not have to serve NS as he has nothing to fight and defend for. And for those who have stupidly completed their NS and found themselves being suckered, at least the Govt should exempt them from reservist liabilities. I think this is only fair. Why should they be made to defend a country when the country barred them from buying a public flat to live in?

Why should new citizens be allowed to buy public flats without even having to serve NS and citizens who have served NS cannot buy public flats? And many daft Singaporeans are still singing the stupid tune that the richer Singaporeans will be competing with the lesser well off Singaporeans for flats when it is plainly the fault of the Govt for not building enough and thus causing this mismatch in supply and demand. Instead of blaming the Govt, they are blaming other Singaporeans. How silly!

Would the Govt own up and tell the daft Singaporeans that it was the Govt’s fault for not building enough and not to blame other Singaporeans for it? This is the same thing as demand for C class wards in hospital when the demand is high but C class wards are under provided.

Daft Sinkies, please think clearly and address the source of the problem and stop bitching and blaming other Singaporeans. Singaporeans are divided to fight among themselves without knowing why. How pathetic. And no one, not the Govt or the media take it upon themselves to explain and educate the people on this fallacy. Daft Sinkies cannot see further than their noses or think further than 1 plus 1.

The precarious nature of investing in Malaysia

When Mahathir scuttled the CLOB shares trading in SGX, billions of Singaporean dollars went up in smokes. Hundreds of thousands of Singaporeans simply got burnt with their investment in CLOB shares turning into waste papers. That was how precarious and unpredictable the changes in policies dished out by the Malaysian leaders.

With Mahathir out of the picture, things get a bit better, a bit of normalcy returns. Then with Najib doing a Deng Xiaoping by establishing better relations with Singapore and in a way opening up Malaysia for investment, things get to look more rosy with Singaporeans becoming the biggest investor in Iskandar Economic Zone. Billions are likely to be invested in this project alone and also in other parts of Malaysia. Everything is looking fine, till yesterday.

The Malaysian Generation is a national affair but with cross border implications. Anwar sent an awakening call to foreign investors yesterday by saying that though all agreements will be honoured should his party won the election, things will not be the same. There will be changes to favour Malaysians. Now, what is Anwar saying? What would he do or change to the investment climate in Iskandar and how would it affect the Singaporean investors? The latter are now sitting back and watch and wondering what would happen to their investment if the changes turn out to be unfavourable. Would it be another CLOB of a different kind?

Just when one thinks everything is fine, dark cloud is forming. Investing in Malaysia is precarious and subject to the changes in political fortunes.