A lesson from Saudi Arabia

Tons of rubbish not cleared as foreign workers fled the country. After years of lax immigration and an influx of foreign workers to take over the low skill and manual work that were shun by the locals, Saudi Arabia has started to close the door. The rise of nationalistic fervor and intolerance of the huge foreign presence have led to vigilante groups attacking foreigners, amnesty for the illegals that owned up, while many fled or went into hiding. Many manual jobs were left unattended and the cleaning of the cities went to a halt.

What is happening in Saudi Arabia is a glimpse of what can happen here and worse. The Saudi lost their low level jobs to foreigners, and when they left after the clampdown only the cleaning jobs, low skilled jobs and construction jobs were affected. We too have these jobs taken over by the foreigners. And we also have several industries that have been cornered by foreigners to the extent that they are the new foreigner core, replacing the Sinkie core. Should they leave for whatever reasons, the hole is going to be very big and very damaging to our industries.

The risk of foreigners controlling some of our vital industries is very high given the irresponsible and thoughtless policy of opening our legs without thinking of any protection. Other than the risk of their departure, even if they stayed, the risk of them doing monkey business at our expense is also very high. And there are also the social and health risks with the latter posing a danger that can strike without much warning. We have experienced several health epidemics recently and TB is on the rise. Our compact living and our public transportation will facilitate the spread of diseases much more quickly and very difficult to control.

Saudi Arabia is a lesson and a pre warning to be pro active, to anticipate what is coming. It is a free lesson that must be taken seriously. Can we see what is coming? I have my doubts. The money is good. The GDP is growing. Nothing else matters.

Can a country be dependent on foreigners for all its needs, including essentials, core businesses and security matters?

Culling the only solution

A young student, quoting a 70 year old, I think, on the monkey problem faced by our rich citizens in their landed homes, suggested culling as the only solution to the problem. Culling is bad, unethical but necessary. The monkeys have been a nuisance to the residents, disturbing their peace, even threatening to harm children. The safety of the residents is more important than the lives of the monkeys for sure.
 
Has anyone asked who is intruding into whose habitat, whose land or landed properties? Are the monkeys invading into our living space or the human beans carving away at the little greenery left in this island for the monkeys? The truth is that they were here first and their homes and playgrounds have been seized by the human beans. OK OK, they are but animals.
 
The monkeys are like the Red Indians and we like the White Americans. We encroached into their land, we stole their land and found their presence irritating, unbearable. They, the Red Indians and the monkeys, have become nuisance and need to be driven away or culled. But we also have a little bit of conscience to know that culling, actually killing, is a bad thing to do just to get rid of a little inconvenience.
 
At the rate we are expanding and bringing in more human beans to populate this little piece of rock, soon there will be no place for the original natives, the wildlife like the monkeys and the wild boars, musangs, snakes and cats in the last of the remaining forests. We are the invaders, the robbers of their land and homes.
 
We keep taking their land in the name of economic growth, for some developers and the govt to sell the land and properties for more money.
 
Yes, culling is the only solution. It is a pity that the monkeys could not cull the human beans who are not only a nuisance but raiders of their homes and depriving them of their way of life. Human beans are so humane and caring and kind. We are all animal lovers, up to a point. Killing one dog is not acceptable. Culling families of wild boars and monkeys is ok.
 
When our population hits 6.9m or more, the human beans here may start to think about culling human beans for their own comfort and safety when things get too rough. They will start to behave like white mice. The syndrome of intolerance and anger is starting to show in crowded places like trains and common areas.
 
Heh…heh…heh.

Why are there still persistent calls for Sinkies to go overseas to work?

If Sinkies can’t make it here they should go overseas. There are plenty of opportunities overseas. The world is your oyster. Now, if we have built a paradise here, good living environment to set up family and grow children, good jobs and pay, why would Sinkies want to go overseas? And then let foreigners to come in to take over their jobs, live in their houses, take care of their families, and take over the country?
 
What is the point of a owning a mansion when you cannot live in it? Go overseas, by all means, to travel, to enjoy, to see the world, but to work for a living and leave the paradise behind, or leave your family behind? Going overseas to work must be not out of necessity but a choice to experience, to widen the horizon, for the adventure.
 
Going overseas to work is different from going overseas to do business, to sell products and services. Our companies, manufacturers, service providers, should venture overseas to increase their revenue, their profitability like Sembawang, like Capitaland, like Hyflux etc etc. Chasing our people overseas to be employees is a stupid thing when jobs are plentiful here and the living environment is good. Why must we hire foreigners here and chase our citizens away, from their families, from their homes and country?
 
Why chase our citizens overseas only to replace their absence by foreigners that don’t really contribute much to improve the country but to fill up the vacuum, to take their place and enjoy the comfort and infrastructure built by our citizens…that were chased away? Whose bright idea is that? I hear a lot of parrots parroting the same silly tune. Do they know what it means, what are the implications to the lives of these people who have to leave their families behind?
 
Do they know the implications to the future of this country? Do they know that the country has been taken over by foreigners? One day they might realize their folly too late when they returned to find their country no more. Or they might not be able to return home any more.
 
They are the best talents available, the thinkers and planners. The wise men and women.

If the region did not embrace Islam

We inherited our religion. Some times back, our forefathers or parents were not religious. Then one of them decided to embrace a religion, be it Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism or whatever, it became our religion. Some have the choice to discard the religion and change to another religion, some did not have that choice. Changing a religion can be tantamount to a betrayal, becoming an outcast or could even be killed.
 
Once a religion has been chosen, the whole lifestyle and thinking process changed. The affinity to what is good, comfortable, familiar, changed. The social and economic behavior and system also changed. In this region, Malaysia and Indonesia are Islamic countries with varying degrees. Indonesian polity is still secular while Malaysia is as good as an Islamic state. Singapore is secular and rojak as far as religion is concerned. The Philippines are more Catholic while Myammar and Thailand are Buddhists. The attitude towards life changed.
 
The primary religious forces that are making a lot of demands on the state in these three countries are Islam and to a lesser extent Christianity/Catholicism. Islam has been the domineering force in Malaysia and Indonesia and to some extent Singapore. Christianity did surface now and then to contest their rights as a religious group but nothing that unmanageable other than the Marxist Conspiracy episode. The other religions are not so demanding on the state in their own ways.
 
What kind of countries or societies would these three countries turn out today if the regional communities decided some time in the past to embrace another religion other than Islam? I am not placing any subjective views on the values or goodness of any religion but just pondering what could have been when the first base was changed.
Imagine a Malaysia and Indonesia that are more like Thailand or more like the Philippines with the accompanying life style changes, belief system and culture. This is only a hypothetical situation that would not happen but would have changed the socio political map in the region.

$4.3b for 5 km of marvel

The Marina Coastal Expressway cost the people $4.3b. Let me make this number simpler. It is $860m for one kilometer of road. Or let me make it more down to earth, it is $860,000 for 1 metre of road. Does this make any sense to you? Can you appreciate what this mean?
 
OK, you live in a 5 rm HDB flat. How much does it cost you when you bought it? At today’s price direct from the HDB it can vary from $300k to $600k depending on the location. One can get a resale unit in one in the urban area for just about this price.
 
In other words, the cost to build one meter of the expressway is equivalent to one to three HDB 5rm flats. I think this is the bigger marvel than the 420m stretch under the sea. It must be great value. Some experts reportedly said this price tag could well be justified. They are not sure, I think.
 
Who can authorize the spending of such a big sum of money and what is the process before the project is approved?
 
I like the marvel part. We should build more marvels.