The arrogance of western powers

‘US sees DPRK as security threat in Northeast Asia

WASHINGTON - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) poses one of the most critical US security challenges in Northeast Asia as it is pursuing nuclear capabilities and developing long-range ballistic missiles, the Pentagon said Thursday….

Australia's role is to keep peace in region

CANBERRA - Australia's 2013 Defence White Paper underlines the country's role in keeping peace in the Indo-Pacific region, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said at a press conference of launching the white paper on Friday….’

The above two extracts are exemplary examples of the arrogance of the Americans and the Australians to dictate to the world. In the first article, the Americans simply declared that the DPRK is a security threat when the North Koreans are just trying to develop long range missiles for their own defence. And the USA is across the Pacific Ocean and could turn North Korean into the Stone Age! The Americans already possess enough long range missiles and nuclear warheads to hit anything in North Korea and always threatening to strike North Korea and conducting war games at the borders of North Korea. Should not it be the other way, that the North Koreans see the USA as a clear immediate and present danger, a security threat?

The North Koreans cannot hit the USA but the USA can hit the North Koreans any time it wanted to. So, who is a threat to who?

In the case of the Australians, they simply declared that they are the policemen in the region, to keep peace. Who they think they are? Did they ask Indonesia or the Asean countries for permission to do that? They are here to keep peace in the region? Are the Asean states little war mongering countries and needing the Australians to keep peace, to clobber anyone of them if they disturb peace?

Should the Asean countries pay tribute to this master of the region, a regional empire? Why could not the Indonesians, being the biggest country in the region, be the respected leader to keep peace in the region, or Asean as a collective unit, to keep peace? Why a small country of 20 odd millions thinks that it is its right to rule over a region of so many countries whose combined population is well over 300m?

Are the Australians crazy or what? Do they have any respect to the countries in the region? Are they the new colonial master of Southeast Asia?

Backside kenna burnt in MRT train

A nurse got her backside burnt while travelling in the North South MRT line towards Jurong East. Recently there was another case of a commuter suffering almost from the same kind of incident, seating on seats in the train. There were other similar incidents in the past.

There have been no conclusive reports on the causes of such incidents. Were they caused by accident, negligent or mischief? It is strange that in our crowded trains, such incidents could escape from so many public eyes. Any accidental spill would quickly be noticed as the person involved would have no reason to hide.

What is unacceptable is mischief and this can get more frequent as well as more toxic. The public have been warned about unattended bags or things left lying around in the trains, buses or stations. It looks like liquid on the seats of trains and buses is posing a clear and present danger to commuters.

Commuters are better warned that people leaving liquid on train or bus seats must not be taken likely and some precautionary measures need to be taken to curb this, hopefully irritating mischief caused by individuals and nothing more serious than that.

The public’s cooperation can be helpful with the availability of cameras in the mobile phones. A quick shot of the person leaving behind a wet seat could be evidence should something amiss is found and the person needs to be contacted. This kind of public spirit and civic consciousness are much more urgent than scoundrels in cyberspace pretending to be civic minded but really to harass bloggers and trying to fish for the slightest transgression, intentional or otherwise. The backside burning is a threat to personal safety and is occurring a bit too frequent. It is a small problem relative to rail cracks but still important enough to receive some attention.

This would be something more worthy and meaningful for the IB to watch out for, money better spent for sure.

From 6.9m to 10m

Liu Thai Ker, the first chief planner of HDB is throwing a 10m population target for a future Singapore. This is a doubling of the present population of 5.4m. As I have said earlier, I too agree that there is no problem housing 10m or even 20m people in this island and a 50m population is also a possibility.

The main question is what we want. Is this really what our future generations want to have? It will come along with a lot of conditions and consequences to the kind of lifestyle for each population size. The land size and population size will predetermine many things to come. To support the kind of population and a supposedly better quality lifestyle, you would need an economy to produce the goods and services to provide the funding.

With the present 5.4m population, the economy is looking like hitting the wall and the policy makers are at wits end to generate more income to sustain the population and life style here. So far, the only solution is increasing population to grow the economy to support an even bigger population to sustain a bigger economy in a never ending process. Does it work or will it work infinitely? I think we are hitting the end of the road very soon.

There is hope though, that there could be a breakthrough in science and technology to keep this scheme going. And yes, we need to keep casting our net very wide and pray for an exceptional genius to emerge to bring us to the next level or else….

What is the whole purpose of this game of life by growing the population in a vicious cycle? This generation has a responsibility not to create a situation that will make this island unsustainable for our future generation. We owe it to them to keep the whole eco system healthy, the economy and social system in balance and with some room for them to manouvre. An oversize population in a small island without natural resources just does not seem the right thing to do.

The future is not just about building enough homes to house the population. The hardware, the software and the heartware all needs to come together to make living possible, enjoyable and meaningful without the kind of inflation that we are going through now. And this can only get worst. Anyone out there really has the solution to a population of 7m or 10m thought out? Everyone is talking about how crazily good and exciting with 7m or 10m population. Anyone care to share how bad it can be if things did not turn out right, if there is a world crisis, be it financial, food, weather, flood and drought? With 7 or 10m, there is no room for error. It will be disastrous.

How much will a 3 rm flat cost? How much will a COE cost? How much will a plate of chicken rice cost?

A support the White Paper Rally

Now, would it be interesting for another group to organize a rally in support of the Population White Paper at Hong Lim? We can use the two events to make some comparisons, the organization, approval/permit application, speakers, turn out etc to see if the people are in support of the White Paper or against the White Paper.

I think organization and approval should be a piece of cake just like the one organized by Gilbert, no interference and everything will go on smoothly. As for speakers, very likely the pro White Paper will have more important and dignified speakers that will draw a bigger crowd. A lot of great names are flashing through my mind. The turn out would likely be at least 10,000, double or triple the protest Rally.

How about it? Would someone like to take on this initiative? It will be interesting, definitely, and we can also see the coverage given to the event in the main media and over the air.

The more I think about it the more enthuse I am over the potential of this event. I may go for the chicken rice or better still if someone will to donate some abalone porridge. And that will be nice.

Quote by M Ravi, lawyer of the downtrodden

I believe what is missing in the White Paper is all of us. We are not in the White Paper at all.   -  M Ravi in his speech at Hong Lim Park on the Population White Paper.