She came and gone and left her fragrance behind. Some may find it a
breath of fresh air, some may find it a little pungent, a little
uncomfortable after taste. While she was here she must have learnt quite
a fair bit of this little jewel city, with another jewel coming up at
Changi Airport soon, a gleaming oasis of modern skyscrapers and
facilities, the beautiful gardens and the F1 that she was shown and
expected to be in awe. From her statements we all know what she had
learnt and would pick up only the right or relevant things for her
country.
Have we learnt anything from her visit? Learnt what? Are we supposed to
learn from her, a third world country? No, she was here to learn, and we
were there to teach her, to show her the way to a modern first world
country, oops, I mean city.
I don’t think Singapore learnt anything from Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit.
Our mindset was that we have it all and everything that Myanmar wanted.
And we were so willing and eager to please her by offering our helping
hand. We were so helpful. Shit, she did not seem to appreciate what we
can do for her country.
But some Sinkies did learn a bit. Some are questioning whether this mad
race to make more money to buy more things, to have more money in the
bank accounts are all there is to life and living. Could we seek some
balance in our life and live a little, smell the flowers, and sit on the
sand along the beach, watch the sunset, play with the children. What is
living all about?
Yes we all feel very rich, with all the modern convenience around us. Material life is good definitely. So?
10/04/2013
Upheaval in the stock market
Spectacular rises lead to spectacular falls. Over the last 3 months the
stock market saw some phenomenon activities in a few select stocks.
These stocks were penny stocks in the July/August period and saw a
meteoric rise to above two dollars. And every day there would be a
couple of surprises where out of the blue some penny stocks would double
in values or increase by more than 50% in value.
This morning the stock market scene took a turn. Three stocks went tumbling down. Asiason was only 95c in August and hit a high $2.90 recently. This morning it crashed to $1.04, losing $1.66 within a couple of hours. Blumont was 85c in August and rose to $2.54. It fell to 88c, losing $1.14. LionGold was $1.15 in July and hit a high of $1.76. This morning it fell 87.5c to 63.5c before it was suspended from trading. Asiason and Blumont were also suspended.
Some stock markets have a built in limit mechanism to suspend stocks or the market when the change in prices is more than 15%. Apparently we did not have such a mechanism to stop the trading of these stocks and the falls were allowed to continue before they were suspended by a human decision.
The above changes could see hundreds of millions of dollars or billions wiped out within a couple of hours. The two casinos could not match the amount of money changing hands at this pace in the stock exchange. Fortunes were made and fortunes were lost in a matter of hours.
Welcome to the biggest casino in Sin City.
This morning the stock market scene took a turn. Three stocks went tumbling down. Asiason was only 95c in August and hit a high $2.90 recently. This morning it crashed to $1.04, losing $1.66 within a couple of hours. Blumont was 85c in August and rose to $2.54. It fell to 88c, losing $1.14. LionGold was $1.15 in July and hit a high of $1.76. This morning it fell 87.5c to 63.5c before it was suspended from trading. Asiason and Blumont were also suspended.
Some stock markets have a built in limit mechanism to suspend stocks or the market when the change in prices is more than 15%. Apparently we did not have such a mechanism to stop the trading of these stocks and the falls were allowed to continue before they were suspended by a human decision.
The above changes could see hundreds of millions of dollars or billions wiped out within a couple of hours. The two casinos could not match the amount of money changing hands at this pace in the stock exchange. Fortunes were made and fortunes were lost in a matter of hours.
Welcome to the biggest casino in Sin City.
China, the bogeyman returns to Indonesia
After living through half a century of misinformation and lies, the
Indonesians are now receiving China’s President Xi Jinping as a friend.
In the 1950s, China was one of the closest friends of Indonesia under
Sukarno. They were leaders of the non aligned movement culminating in a
non aligned conference in Bandung in 1955. Indonesia under Sukarno was a
leader of the Third World.
Unfortunately the close Sino Indonesian ties were sabotaged by the Americans. With the American dubious scheme of regime change, Sukarno and many Indonesian military commanders and elite were murdered by Suharto in a framed up charge of a communist coup. The reality was an American sponsored military coup that led to the biggest bloodshed in Indonesian history, with Indonesians killing Indonesians and putting the blame on China and communism.
To live with the lie, China was branded as enemy Number One and official relationship was cut off for more than 40 years. On the other hand, the bloodied hands of the murderers of several hundred thousand Indonesians were smiling quietly in Washington. Is communism more frightening or American exceptionalism? Who have been bullying Indonesian and who were there to squeeze the balls of the Indonesian President Suharto during the Asian financial crisis.
When would Indonesians rewrite the darkest chapters of their history and to name the devils that caused the death of so many of their elite and the downfall of their popular President Sukarno?
Would Indonesia and China resume their close ties once again to the level of the Bandung era and higher? They did not have real problems with each other but suffered under a western lie. With a combined population of 1.6b people, the two countries are home to one quarter of the world’s population. China is offering to work jointly with Indonesia in many economic, social and infrastructure projects, to build a comprehensive strategic partnership. This is a huge departure from the standard signing of defence and military pacts that the Americans are offering to Asean countries. The few things the American can offer are military hardware and their war machine for war, to go to war.
While China and Indonesia are keen to rebuild bilateral relationship and take it to a higher level, would another coup and regime change take place and ties be broken once again between the two countries? The American pivot is in the region and poised to do damage at the most opportune moment. While China and Indonesia are signing trade pacts, the Americans and the Japanese are signing military pacts.
Unfortunately the close Sino Indonesian ties were sabotaged by the Americans. With the American dubious scheme of regime change, Sukarno and many Indonesian military commanders and elite were murdered by Suharto in a framed up charge of a communist coup. The reality was an American sponsored military coup that led to the biggest bloodshed in Indonesian history, with Indonesians killing Indonesians and putting the blame on China and communism.
To live with the lie, China was branded as enemy Number One and official relationship was cut off for more than 40 years. On the other hand, the bloodied hands of the murderers of several hundred thousand Indonesians were smiling quietly in Washington. Is communism more frightening or American exceptionalism? Who have been bullying Indonesian and who were there to squeeze the balls of the Indonesian President Suharto during the Asian financial crisis.
When would Indonesians rewrite the darkest chapters of their history and to name the devils that caused the death of so many of their elite and the downfall of their popular President Sukarno?
Would Indonesia and China resume their close ties once again to the level of the Bandung era and higher? They did not have real problems with each other but suffered under a western lie. With a combined population of 1.6b people, the two countries are home to one quarter of the world’s population. China is offering to work jointly with Indonesia in many economic, social and infrastructure projects, to build a comprehensive strategic partnership. This is a huge departure from the standard signing of defence and military pacts that the Americans are offering to Asean countries. The few things the American can offer are military hardware and their war machine for war, to go to war.
While China and Indonesia are keen to rebuild bilateral relationship and take it to a higher level, would another coup and regime change take place and ties be broken once again between the two countries? The American pivot is in the region and poised to do damage at the most opportune moment. While China and Indonesia are signing trade pacts, the Americans and the Japanese are signing military pacts.
10/03/2013
When trust is an issue
When Chok Tong handed power over to Hsien Loong, the PAP govt was still smooth sailing and trust was not an issue. It was riding on its past glories and good track record. The govt had delivered a better life for most of the citizens and trust was a given. The people trusted the govt and allowed the govt to do what they did best while the people went about their lives with a certain level of contentment.
The trust was still there in the first few years of Hsien Loong’s premiership. Today Hsien Loong is asking the people to trust the govt. This is a tell tale sign that something is not right, or something seriously not right. The govt must have felt it. This time the feedback on how dissatisfied the people are with the govt got through. Even if the grassroot leaders are still telling only the good news, there are many other sources and events that said the sentiments of the people are not with the govt. The by elections and election for the President did not bode well for the ruling govt.
For a govt that thinks and believes that it is doing all the right things for the good of the people and to lose the trust of the people is a strange feeling. Either the govt is doing all the wrong things but thinking that they were the right things, or the people are just ungrateful and too demanding. It could be a mix of both.
So? Is Hsien Loong’s plea for trust going to be received kindly and reciprocated by the people? Or is it going to be a futile last gasp to regain the lost confidence and votes of the people? It cannot be just a plea and expecting the people to come back to give him a big hug. There must be things that went wrong that drove the people away from the PAP. And these must be put right if the support and trust are going to return.
What should the PAP do to win back the trust of the people? Policies and leadership are two of the main bugbears that make the people lost their trust of the PAP. The leadership today, and the leaders, are simply appalling. They don’t lead and still think they could talk down to the people with fuzzy logics and loose talks. When ministers and MPs could not explain govt policies coherently to the people, they lose the people.
And bad policies don’t help either. Maybe it is unfair to blame them when the policies are unacceptable to the people and cannot be explained away even by the cleverest minister. Bad policies are bad policies. Policies that don’t benefit the people or make lives more difficult will be just that. No amount of communication of fake and obtused reasonings and logics can change them.
the people start to trust the govt again? I think it is not so easy. The people want the govt to prove that it is worthy of trust, to deserve to be trusted again. So far no good, and getting worse by the day. The people are not saying anything. They can’t, or even if they do, is the govt and the political leaders listening or willing to listen? There is a huge gap in the meetings of minds. The govt only want to hear what it wants to hear. The people are saying things that the govt does not want to know. How can there be trust?
The govt needs to do the right thing to gain the trust of the people. And the people are the ones to decide whether it is the right thing or the wrong thing.
Make Singapore safe for Singaporeans
Another case of a foreigner, must be another talent, a talented cook,
got drunk and bashed up a taxi driver, damaged a motocycle and a taxi
door. He was sentenced to a miserable 2 weeks’ jail. The foreign talent,
Garfield Gordon Angove III, 38, was also fined $1,000 and had to pay
$3,500 to the taxi driver for assaulting him.
The sheepish and timid citizens are furious. The beating of these citizens by foreigners who were given the opportunity to work and make a good living by the good grace of the govt, not necessarily of the people, has gone one too far. Too many timid citizens had been beaten by foreigners and they are not going to take it quietly any longer. They are screaming for blood. They want the court to give a heavier sentence, not a miserable 2 weeks. Is this how valuable the life of a citizen of this City, just bashed them up and 2 weeks’ jail is about it, with a few thousands to pay for medical, pain and suffering as compensation? Did the sheeples shout cheap, cheap, cheap?
Would the govt wake up, just like the issue of discrimination against Singaporeans by foreigners for employment, and start to take the beating of citizens seriously? Would the govt protect the citizens and take a strong stand to stop this abuse of its citizens by foreigners? If so, making an example of such rogues that were given the highly prized title of foreign talents to spite the less talented locals is in order.
The govt should make it clear that these foreigners are here as our guests and not here to beat up the hosts. If they do so, they should be deported immediately, within 24 hours once found guilty by the courts. How can these foreign rogues be invited here to take the jobs away from the locals, enjoy our hospitality and still go about beating up the locals and get away practically scot free?
The people should demand that the govt they trust to protect them, protect them from bodily harm especially from the foreigners brought in by the govt, to take a tough stand against such foreigners. It is the govt’s fault for bringing these rogues in big numbers here, and to praise them sky high as talents when many are simply rubbish, rogues, crooks and cheats, to kick them out if they beat up the citizens.
This is the least the govt must do for the unpopular open door policy. The people did not ask to be beaten by foreigners. Kick them out if they thrashed our hospitality. This would remind the foreigners to behave and to show some respect to the owners of this City. They are guests and can be thrown out if they misbehaved. Or shall we go all the way, since we loved the foreigners so much and so eager to please them, to throw out the citizens that made foreigners unhappy to want to beat them instead?
Should the govt send a strong message to foreigners that this is the home of Singaporeans? Beating Sinkies as a past time is not acceptable. Or should the govt remind the Sinkies that the foreigners are their benefactors, and it is ok to be beaten by the foreigners once a while, and stop whining? Who to trust?
Make Singapore safe for Singaporeans, from being beaten by foreigners? Unbelieveable! Uniquely Singapore.
The sheepish and timid citizens are furious. The beating of these citizens by foreigners who were given the opportunity to work and make a good living by the good grace of the govt, not necessarily of the people, has gone one too far. Too many timid citizens had been beaten by foreigners and they are not going to take it quietly any longer. They are screaming for blood. They want the court to give a heavier sentence, not a miserable 2 weeks. Is this how valuable the life of a citizen of this City, just bashed them up and 2 weeks’ jail is about it, with a few thousands to pay for medical, pain and suffering as compensation? Did the sheeples shout cheap, cheap, cheap?
Would the govt wake up, just like the issue of discrimination against Singaporeans by foreigners for employment, and start to take the beating of citizens seriously? Would the govt protect the citizens and take a strong stand to stop this abuse of its citizens by foreigners? If so, making an example of such rogues that were given the highly prized title of foreign talents to spite the less talented locals is in order.
The govt should make it clear that these foreigners are here as our guests and not here to beat up the hosts. If they do so, they should be deported immediately, within 24 hours once found guilty by the courts. How can these foreign rogues be invited here to take the jobs away from the locals, enjoy our hospitality and still go about beating up the locals and get away practically scot free?
The people should demand that the govt they trust to protect them, protect them from bodily harm especially from the foreigners brought in by the govt, to take a tough stand against such foreigners. It is the govt’s fault for bringing these rogues in big numbers here, and to praise them sky high as talents when many are simply rubbish, rogues, crooks and cheats, to kick them out if they beat up the citizens.
This is the least the govt must do for the unpopular open door policy. The people did not ask to be beaten by foreigners. Kick them out if they thrashed our hospitality. This would remind the foreigners to behave and to show some respect to the owners of this City. They are guests and can be thrown out if they misbehaved. Or shall we go all the way, since we loved the foreigners so much and so eager to please them, to throw out the citizens that made foreigners unhappy to want to beat them instead?
Should the govt send a strong message to foreigners that this is the home of Singaporeans? Beating Sinkies as a past time is not acceptable. Or should the govt remind the Sinkies that the foreigners are their benefactors, and it is ok to be beaten by the foreigners once a while, and stop whining? Who to trust?
Make Singapore safe for Singaporeans, from being beaten by foreigners? Unbelieveable! Uniquely Singapore.
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