Yale NUS tie up in pursuit of academic excellence

The setting up of this Yale NUS College must have cost quite a bomb financially. The object must be academic excellence, if not the product ie graduates, must be a college of bright professors living here to show the world we have the brightest talents money can buy. Its existence should take NUS or Singapore tertiary education up a notch, not the kind splashed across the media in rankings here and there. It must be real substance, either in producing great thinking graduates or great academics sharing their great thoughts on this little island, the merits of the latter is like pasting someone’s backside on our face. The former should be more desirable and the latter would be more like having more foreign table tennis players to show the world that we are also great in table tennis, great as long as money can buy greatness.

Yale has a great history and tradition in liberal arts and humanities, must be or we would not be inviting them here. This must have been brought about by the academic freedom, freedom of speech and thoughts in America, that make Yale a great university. And this can become a problem as academic freedom, freedom of the mind and thinking process are crucial ingredients to producing great thinking minds and great thoughts. And there has been a big tussle on this with some in Yale calling for a curtailment of this association. Singapore is just not the place for academic freedom in liberal arts and the teaching of humanities. They must have their points and beliefs to put up such a strong resistance.

While the college is ready to take in students in August, the debate is still going on and the intensity is not letting up. Now they have recommended a panel of Yale and NUS academics and administrators ‘to advise the new liberal arts college on issues that may arise, including academic freedom and discrimination’. This must be another first to have such a panel to advise and police a liberal arts college on academic freedom. And this is no joke. Hopefully the presence of this eminent panel of freedom guardians would not add to the cost of this expensive set up and raise tuition fees or increase govt grants to the college. And there is no further need to set up another committee of foreign dignitaries and academics to oversee this panel.

I wonder if it would be cheaper to send out students to Yale directly, with govt subsidies than to set up the college here? I also wonder if the environment here will be conducive or equivalent to that in Yale for the teaching of liberal arts or would it be money spent all for nothing but a fish? What is this Yale NUS model meant to be or to achieve? Is this the pathfinder for a more liberal Singapore or a more liberal academic environment for the fermenting and formenting of contrarian views and thoughts that may not be embraced by the authority? Is Singapore attempting to take the slow boat to freedom of expression, academic freedom and the American way?

How much is all this going to cost or already spent? Why are NUS and the other local universities not good enough? Would Yale NUS make a difference?

Gang rape by Democracy

Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC PAP MP Zainudin Nordin stirs up a storm with "gang rape" quote from an American writer

Democracy in and of itself is not necessarily good. Gang rape, after all, is democracy in action. This statement by Zainudin is causing a big storm in a tea cup. Many bloggers are asking him to apologise. Apologise for what, and to who when he was just saying the plain truth? And this is not even a Freudian slip. Democracy is the rule of the majority in theory but tyranny of the minority that have been elected to rule over the majority in practice.

Now, what truth is he saying? Who kena gang raped in our democracy? The women? Come off it lah. Seriously, the women are not being gang raped by our democracy. No one is being gang raped lah. If there are they should be screaming out in pain right. How can that be? Anaesthesia in the anus or too much KY lubricant? That could take off the pain when being raped. But according to an Indonesian judge, the rapist and the victims both had a good time. The hysteria and screaming in this kind of thinking must be fake. This must be a learned judge.

Isn’t it strange that in a land where people are so ecstatic with just a BJ and would risk everything because of it, rape just could not happen unless committed by foreigners?  It does not make sense. Incongruent. Maybe figuratively speaking ya? More likely many people are blowing to get a little advantage and got raped happily.

And don’t miss the most important part. Democracy in itself is not necessarily good. It must be complimented by a dose of a caring and paternalistic govt that will take good care of the people from cradle to grave, making sure that the people got enough money to pay for affordable housing, to pay for world class medicare, to pay for a good retirement with no fear of high inflation and high cost of living. This part is just my observation.

And good jobs too. Anyone care to be hawkers or drive taxis? You may need a degree, a genuine one from the world class local universities to get into these prized occupations. Can this be considered as being raped? Does the 69 thing got anything to do with being raped? Or the money paid to CPF as akin to being raped?

Sorry, am I missing something? What is this gang rape thing?

Thanks for revealing a state secret.

For the record, Zainudin has clarified that he was only quoting Terry Goodkind. It is not right for the bloggers to put the blame on him.

Has the Govt lost its way?

Yes, we are a very rich country with a lot of money in our reserves. We can have anything that money can buy. We can buy anything we want or give away money to whoever we want. This is the privilege of being a rich nation. The question that many citizens are asking is how the money is being spent and they are not really happy about it.

Why are we giving so many scholarships to our schools and universities to foreigners when so many of our students could do with a bit of help?

Why are we giving away so many university places to foreigners while our children have to find university places overseas, and spending a bomb or draining the savings of their parents?

Why are we having a few hundred thousand foreigners gaining employed, in good jobs, earning good money, while our own citizens are jobless, under employed, working part time, working in jobs that they are over qualified?

Why are foreigners taking away so many plum jobs that we have created, in our govt services, govt owned companies, when these jobs could have gone to our own citizens? New citizens and PRs are foreigners who have not really contributed to the fruits that they are enjoying.

Why do we allowed foreigners to set up businesses here and employing their own people with very little benefits to our citizens?

Why are we throwing so much money to foreign sports people when the money could have been given to our children? Shouldn't the money be used to employ coaches to train our own sports people, to train our own coaches?

Why are we selling our limited land/properties to foreigners to add to our high property prices, some buying more than they need for speculation or ‘investment’? And Singaporeans have difficulties buying a home and the Govt not selling public housing to its citizens but foreigners turned new citizens can buy?

Why are we giving away citizenships that came with so many subsidies so easily and readily to foreigners?

Have we lost our direction, the meaning of a nation, a country with its own citizens and interests to take care of first and foremost? What happen to nation building, becoming a nation of people of shared values and a shared future for good or for bad? Inclusiveness is about own citizens, not foreigners, not PRs and not so much about new citizens that need to integrate over time.

What M Ravi has said is very true, WE are not in the big picture. We gave jobs that paid in the millions to foreigners, allowed foreigners to set up agencies for recruitment, housing etc to compete against our very own people etc etc. The citizens have been reduced to be machine clogs or cannon fodder to support a system for the elite and foreigners. And that is being lucky. Many would end up as dried orange skin, squeezed dry, discarded only good for recyclying as fertilisers.

We are the citizens and not in the big picture of things. 

Malaysia GE – Coalition of Convenience

The recent GE has propelled an unlikely and incompatible coalition, the Pakatan Rakyat, into a serious contender to form the next govt in Malaysia. If the accusation, not proven, is anything to go by, PR could have won the election and Anwar could have been the PM. When PR was formed, it was the most difficult alliance of mismatch political parties that were unlikely to see eye to eye because of their poles apart ideology and political goals. The DAP is a strongly non Malay party that was seen as promoting non Malay interest. PAS was seen as a fundamentalist Islamic party that wanted an Islamic Malaysia with Islamic Laws that are feared by the non Muslims if imposed on them. Parti Keadilan Rakyat was a brand new creation, led by a controversial leader in Anwar that was just released from prison and still facing many criminal charges.

The rise and rise of PR as a serious political coalition to take on UMNO and BN is a big gamble with very few chips. The stature of PR today is a far cry from its early years marred by a host of intractable problems between its three constituent parties. Many issues have been ironed our with the good grace of the three leaders and with a lot of give and take. An inconvenient coalition is now a workable model.

There must be a lot of compromises, a lot of negotiation and a lot of convincing by the leaders to take their supporters along this journey. And there must be a lot of trust and faith that the parties will play along agreed ground rules. The three parties are must closer and as equal partners than the BN coalition when UMNO was just bullying the other parties and hammering to shape to get along. BN is a case of square peg in round hole and all kinds of pegs hammered into a hole decided by UMNO. It was in reality a very unequal and inconvenient coalition compares to PR when all the parties negotiated their terms on an equal basis.

Anwar was clearly instrumental to the rise of PR. No other politician in Malaysia today can hold this coalition together, let alone bringing them to the negotiating table. Leadership is one of the main factor in PR. Anwar is a natural leader, acceptable by all three parties and their supporters. But more importantly is the push factor in UMNO.

UMNO over the years have alienated the people of Malaysia of all races through their self serving policies and racial policies. The non Malay parties were bullied to irrelevance and their credibility to their supporters became a big question mark. None of the non Malay party could tell their supporters that they were representing them. They were just passengers in a coalition where they hardly have any say.

The Malay base of UMNO was also eroded as the masses were not getting the benefits they deserved, only to see the rich politicians getting richer by means that they deemed uncomfortable and unacceptable. It is an elitist party, with nepotism and cronyism being practiced blatantly for selfish interests of the elite. The accusation of corruption is getting more sympathetic ears and the Malay supporters are deserting the party in hordes. Many of the middle leaders too are disillusion and some have switched camps and others are seriously thinking about it.

UMNO has worked itself out of favour among the Malay voters and arrogantly thinking that it could abuse their trust and support by giving lip services to their unhappiness. It is no longer the same party that it used to be. It is no longer for the people but for themselves, the leaders.

The PR coalition of convenience could only come about by the self destructing policies and acts of UMNO. There was a genuine need for a change and PR fill the hole neatly. They is an uprising among the Malaysians of all races, a revolt of kind, against a govt that is no longer trusted and respected.

The political landscape in Malaysia is a mirror image of what is happening in Singapore. But the opposition in Singapore is still not ready. There is no Anwar, a natural leader that could command the respect and acceptance by the opposition camp. And there are no leaders willing to put their party interests aside to come together for a coalition of convenience to stage a serious challenge to the PAP. Until such a development takes place, the opposition in Singapore is unlikely to put up a real alternative to the PAP, to replace it in the next GE.

There is no need for all the opposition parties to come under one umbrella. All it needs is three or so component parties to work together and that should be a sizable force to be reckoned with. Other than this, unless there is a little miracle, or the PAP did itself in by creating more unhappiness that are so unacceptable to the people that more concerned Singaporeans are willing to step forward to enter the political arena to boost up the strength of the WP or another major party, big enough to pose as an alternative party in waiting.

If a coalition is difficult, the relatively smaller political landscape could actually be circumvent if a strong party could garner enough new candidates to be field in the next GE, to mount a major assault on a declining and ageing party that is losing its grips of power and support of the people.

Would there be a coalition of convenience in 2016 or would there be a single party that is strong enough to take on the PAP? There is still time, 3 years to make this happen. PAP could help too, by continuing on its path and policies that are no longer acceptable and agreeable by the people.

The Pinoys - Asean cowboy strikes

The crazy Filipino cowboys fired and killed a Taiwanese fisherman in the South China Sea, probably thinking that the fishing boat was Chinese. It then did what it stupidly done as before, by denying the accident only to admit again that they did kill the Taiwanese fisherman. And they claimed that the Filipino coast guards were just doing their duty and the Taiwanese fishing boat was attempting to ram the coast guard’s naval craft. So the Filipino coast guards were being attacked by an unarmed Taiwanese fishing boat and had to defend itself by firing and killing a fisherman.

How ludicrous can it be? Only third world minds can think that this is a good and acceptable explanation. The stupid Filipinos could not even tell a decent lie and make it sounds a bit logical. These crazy nuts only know how to attack unarmed fishermen, probably being instructed to do so to create tension with China. Unfortunately they were so dump that they could not distinguish a Taiwanese fishing boat from a Chinese one. Now it is up to Taiwan to flex its muscle, if it has any, to take on the Filipinos. An apology and compensation are demanded but the Filipinos are trying to find excuses for their stupidity and avoid responsibility.

If the Filipinos continue to be evasive, the best thing for the Taiwanese to do, to redeem some national pride, is to go hunting for the coast guards and drag them to Taiwan for trial. China can help the Taiwanese to arrest the rogue coast guards to bring them to justice. The Americans would be caught with their pants down as the Taiwanese are American allies and the Americans could not deny Taiwan the right to pursue and arrest the rogue Filipino coast guards if the Filipino govt refuses to hand them over.

Taiwan has to show that it has balls and the ability to protect its fishermen and its territorial integrity and not be bullied by this pathetic country. So, Taiwan, the ball is in your court. Are you going to look like a lame duck and be a joke to the world and to the Taiwanese people? Or are you a respectable country that would protect its people and kick the butts of the pirates that claimed to be the coast guards of the Philippines?

Now, isn’t this interesting? A silly people that was tasked to be the provocateurs but messed up the job and looking like idiots? The Taiwan Govt has to redeem itself and answer to its people that it would not allow its people to be shot and killed in the high seas, or in Taiwanese territorial waters.  What a show and what a fumble? Taiwan and China should work hand in hand to apprehend the Filipino coast guards and bring them to face justice in Taiwan. There is not other way if the Taiwanese Govt is going to be respected by the Taiwanese people.