2013 shall be remembered as a very eventful year till the very last day
with the massive jam caused by the most expensive crooked expressway in
the world. This is kind of hard to beat really. But through the years
there were several other outstanding events that really shook this
little island like a little tsunami.
Let me recall, the two high level corruption cases involving top civil
servants when money was still not enough to stop them from being
corrupt. In both cases it wasn’t money that led them astray. This may
call for a rethink on what else is needed to keep officers in public
service clean short of recruiting monks and priests for the job.
This was followed closely with a long list of luminaries involved in
underage sex with a nymph. Quite shocking that this happened in such a
scale and involving so many prominent people, including the scions of
famous clans.
The courts really were doing roaring businesses with God’s money being
passed around in circles that were called round trippings. And poor God
had to apologise to his dear messenger for the mess and putting him
under the authority of human judges.
The headless body and the numerous crimes were pale in comparison to
these events and the Little India riot that saw policemen running for
their lives and their vehicles overturned and burnt. It turned out that
the culprit was alcohol.
Would the challenge by a cleaner threatening to take the PM to court
over some acts in the Election Law be considered another great blooper?
Or would the Presidential Election when the elected President won by the
skin of the teeth and with barely 35% of the popular votes be
considered a bewilderment? The discovery of election boxes left behind
in a school months after the Presidential Election did raise some eye
brows and must surely be a worthy blooper of the year. Or would a top
notch talent of the ruling party losing to an unknown ordinary female
candidate be earth shaking enough to be included as a big blooper?
What about the Rolls Royce equivalent folding bicycles for the comfort
of rangers to patrol the parks in the garden in a city? And to top the
issue of corruption there was a deputy director of the CPIB being charge
for corruption.
What else is equally worthy? The contents of a minute about cleaning of
hawker centre or a $2 company buying a customized software and selling
it at a friendship price may also be good choices vying for the blooper
of the year award.
What other hilarious or nightmarish events that could draw the oohs and
aahs from the people with comments like, ‘like this also can’? Would it
be the PWP, Natcon, or the frequency of train breakdowns with the new
Downtown Line breaking down on its first day of operation?
What do you think? Which event is truly deserving of being awarded the
Blooper of the Year Award? I almost forgot about the Messiah, or is it
the owl, and the sudden downtime of govt websites for maintenance, the
Media Acts to control social media. There are just so many interesting
and outrageous events that made 2013 a really eventful and memorable
year. And the haze, oh it reminds me of you know what. And the list
could go on.
What would you think deserve the honour of being the Blooper of the Year?
1/03/2014
A lesson from the Rakhine state in Myanmar
There is a documentary serial in Channel News Asia hosted by a Dr Farish
Noor called Cross Borders. His last episode was on Myanmar and he
visited the Rakhine state where the Rohingyas lived. The Rohingyas are
muslims and originated from Bangladesh. They are very different from the
Buddhist Myanmese in look, culture, religion and way of life.
There is an on going war or persecution against the Rohingyas by some sectors of the Myanmese population. The Rohingyas are not welcomed by both states of Bangladesh and Myanmar. Many are running away, risking their lives as boat people rather than remaining in Rakhine. They are not wanted by Bangladesh as well. And they are lucky if they survived their journey by small fishing boats.
What makes the Rohingyas intolerable to the Myanmese is their claim for an independent state from Myanmar. No Myanmese govt is going to carve out a piece of their land for them for sure. They are not Myanmese but migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, some kind of equivalent to the untouchables of India.
At the end of the documentary, Dr Farish expressed his gratefulness for having a country to go back to. The Rohingyas are people without a country.
What is the lesson to be learnt? Sinkies better treasure this little island they have and called home. And they deserved to be boat people if they are careless, complacent and disinterested in protecting their rights as citizens of this island. The silliness of inviting so many foreigners as citizens could one day be the source of their own downfall and be evicted out of this island, their homeland.
The lesson of Rakhine is that when a group of people becomes big enough, with a critical mass, they are going to demand for more rights as a group. They would demand for recognition for their way of life, language, culture, a TV channel and religion, and in the case of the Rohingyas, a separate state. If we mindlessly and irresponsibly allow so many foreigners to come into our homeland, one day they are going to make demands on us when they are big enough and to stake a claim to this land.
By then all the kpkb would be useless, futile. By then, Sinkies would have to fight for every inch of their land and every privilege as citizens of this island with these foreigners turned citizens.
Do not be complacent, do not be stupid and give up your rights to this land so easily. Do not be daft. Do not be conned by the daft against your interests. You will pay a very heavy price for it. Your children will curse you for your stupidity and indifference when you can stop the change, when you can stop losing your country to foreigners.
It is not easy to have a country of our own. Bringing in foreigners is as good as giving a part of our country to them, giving our country away. It is not as innocent as you think. The consequences are far reaching and very serious to our own well being.
PS: And don't forget your kopi. According to google my kopi level is at a critically low level. Just spare me 10 sec will do.
Thanks.
There is an on going war or persecution against the Rohingyas by some sectors of the Myanmese population. The Rohingyas are not welcomed by both states of Bangladesh and Myanmar. Many are running away, risking their lives as boat people rather than remaining in Rakhine. They are not wanted by Bangladesh as well. And they are lucky if they survived their journey by small fishing boats.
What makes the Rohingyas intolerable to the Myanmese is their claim for an independent state from Myanmar. No Myanmese govt is going to carve out a piece of their land for them for sure. They are not Myanmese but migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, some kind of equivalent to the untouchables of India.
At the end of the documentary, Dr Farish expressed his gratefulness for having a country to go back to. The Rohingyas are people without a country.
What is the lesson to be learnt? Sinkies better treasure this little island they have and called home. And they deserved to be boat people if they are careless, complacent and disinterested in protecting their rights as citizens of this island. The silliness of inviting so many foreigners as citizens could one day be the source of their own downfall and be evicted out of this island, their homeland.
The lesson of Rakhine is that when a group of people becomes big enough, with a critical mass, they are going to demand for more rights as a group. They would demand for recognition for their way of life, language, culture, a TV channel and religion, and in the case of the Rohingyas, a separate state. If we mindlessly and irresponsibly allow so many foreigners to come into our homeland, one day they are going to make demands on us when they are big enough and to stake a claim to this land.
By then all the kpkb would be useless, futile. By then, Sinkies would have to fight for every inch of their land and every privilege as citizens of this island with these foreigners turned citizens.
Do not be complacent, do not be stupid and give up your rights to this land so easily. Do not be daft. Do not be conned by the daft against your interests. You will pay a very heavy price for it. Your children will curse you for your stupidity and indifference when you can stop the change, when you can stop losing your country to foreigners.
It is not easy to have a country of our own. Bringing in foreigners is as good as giving a part of our country to them, giving our country away. It is not as innocent as you think. The consequences are far reaching and very serious to our own well being.
PS: And don't forget your kopi. According to google my kopi level is at a critically low level. Just spare me 10 sec will do.
Thanks.
1/02/2014
Time to be selfish
A new year and a new beginning. How many Sinkies are willing to share
their homes with foreigners? How many Sinkies are willing to share their
spouses with foreigners? There is a limit to sharing and some things
just cannot be shared or be given away at our own expense. How many of
you are willing to share the good jobs with foreigners while you end up
jobless, underemployed? How many willing to share university places with
foreigners so that you can send your children overseas? How many of you
willing to share your country with foreigners and risk being kick out
by the foreigners one day?
Tomorrow is not going to be better if Sinkies continue to be so generous in sharing everything they own or should be theirs with foreigners. Sinkies cannot keep doing charity to foreigners. The foreigners are not going to be charitable to Sinkies in return. Mark my words. We have heard so many horror stories of foreigners exploiting, abusing, discriminating and cheating Sinkies blatantly, right in their faces.
Sinkies have to be selfish for their own survival in their home country. Sinkies need to think of self first. When Sinkies are well provided only then can Sinkies afford to be charitable. Let the rich Sinkies and elite be charitable as they have the means and extras to be charitable. The rest of the Sinkies must think selfish if they are going to live better and if their children are going to live better.
Selfishness is good. Selfishness is a kind of defensive mechanism. What happens to Kiasuism? Selfishness is kiasuism in another form.
Tomorrow is not going to be better if Sinkies continue to be so generous in sharing everything they own or should be theirs with foreigners. Sinkies cannot keep doing charity to foreigners. The foreigners are not going to be charitable to Sinkies in return. Mark my words. We have heard so many horror stories of foreigners exploiting, abusing, discriminating and cheating Sinkies blatantly, right in their faces.
Sinkies have to be selfish for their own survival in their home country. Sinkies need to think of self first. When Sinkies are well provided only then can Sinkies afford to be charitable. Let the rich Sinkies and elite be charitable as they have the means and extras to be charitable. The rest of the Sinkies must think selfish if they are going to live better and if their children are going to live better.
Selfishness is good. Selfishness is a kind of defensive mechanism. What happens to Kiasuism? Selfishness is kiasuism in another form.
An airport is not a destination
The flood of criticism against the Jewel to be built at Changi Airport
as a game change is drawing Changi Airport management out in defence of
this financial concept. They are still thickly in support of this
concept, that you need more thrills and frills to bring travellers to
the airport.
Just a simple question, if 1000 travellers’s destination is Shanghai or New York, or KL or Jakarta, would they change their plans and come to Changi because of the Jewel?
An airport is to serve leisure and business travellers. As far as business travellers are concerned, if their business is in Timbuktu, no jewel there they will still be there. Business travellers have fixed itinenary and will not be distracted by frills and funny gardens and funny jewel or shopping malls. The only people attracted to shopping malls are bored Sinkies that have no where to go and dunno what to do with their time and money. This shopping mall stuff is a Sinkie mentality.
As for leisure or adventure travellers, they would think of Chinatown and Little India. Would they think of the Changi Jewel? International tourists who want top end shopping have Paris, New York, London and Tokyo to flock to. Would a jewel make them change their minds? They want to look at real western models in person rather than posters and billboards. That is something the Jewel would not be able to offer.
But I can guarantee you that the first month on opening the Jewel will be attract a massive crowd, with Sinkies queueing overnight just to get in, just like the JEM in Jurong East and the funny garden at the Bay. After the novelty is over, it would be serious moments to think of how to recover the cost and the operating cost. Who would be dragged in to subsidise the losses if it is not viable? Think the Garden at the Bay.
Personally I think the assumptions that the Jewel can become a destination are conceptually and financially flawed.
Just a simple question, if 1000 travellers’s destination is Shanghai or New York, or KL or Jakarta, would they change their plans and come to Changi because of the Jewel?
An airport is to serve leisure and business travellers. As far as business travellers are concerned, if their business is in Timbuktu, no jewel there they will still be there. Business travellers have fixed itinenary and will not be distracted by frills and funny gardens and funny jewel or shopping malls. The only people attracted to shopping malls are bored Sinkies that have no where to go and dunno what to do with their time and money. This shopping mall stuff is a Sinkie mentality.
As for leisure or adventure travellers, they would think of Chinatown and Little India. Would they think of the Changi Jewel? International tourists who want top end shopping have Paris, New York, London and Tokyo to flock to. Would a jewel make them change their minds? They want to look at real western models in person rather than posters and billboards. That is something the Jewel would not be able to offer.
But I can guarantee you that the first month on opening the Jewel will be attract a massive crowd, with Sinkies queueing overnight just to get in, just like the JEM in Jurong East and the funny garden at the Bay. After the novelty is over, it would be serious moments to think of how to recover the cost and the operating cost. Who would be dragged in to subsidise the losses if it is not viable? Think the Garden at the Bay.
Personally I think the assumptions that the Jewel can become a destination are conceptually and financially flawed.
All clear on the MCE
From my window the sun was bright and hazy as usual. In the distance,
the surface road parallel to the MCE that was clogged up on Monday
morning was a totally new sight to behold with traffic flowing smoothly
like a miracle. The vehicles were staying about 50m apart. It is quite
puzzling how on earth could the 3 hour jam could happen on the first
working day of its operation and now everything is so smooth, with so
few vehicles on the road.
Let me venture a guess. It was typical of Sinkies to head for something new on the first day of the MCE’s operation. Everyone wanted to experience this new wonder. They may want to be the first on the MCE or get their names in the Guinness Book of Record for travelling on the first day in the most expensive expressway, and now with the added 3 hour jam to remember. They must also be encouraged by news on how it would shorten travelling time plus the novelty, let the herd heading the same way. And the choke points on the surface roads only compounded the problem further. Maybe they should not have blow the trumpet so hard. This could be another reason for the big jam.
Today is the beginning of a new year and a new excitement. But there is no excitement on the MCE anymore. It is all routine. No need for red faces too.
Let me hazard another guess why this is so. Most of the office workers are likely to be back to work and traffic volume is expected to be high. But looking at the number of vehicles on this road, one wonders why there are so few cars on it. The no jam picture is likely due to the series of remedial actions taken by LTA to reduce the choke points and installing more traffic signs along the way, thus making driving easier. The motorists too will be more familiar with the new roads by now.
Some are still cynical and think that it is likely due to the large number of motorists avoiding the MCE altogether. With the greatly reduce traffic, sure the MCE will be like a free way for Formula One racing.
Whatever, it is a good start and people will gradually get use to this MCE and things will be better in times to come. Tomorrow will be better. Some people can breathe a sigh of relief that the $4.3b are well spent.
Let me venture a guess. It was typical of Sinkies to head for something new on the first day of the MCE’s operation. Everyone wanted to experience this new wonder. They may want to be the first on the MCE or get their names in the Guinness Book of Record for travelling on the first day in the most expensive expressway, and now with the added 3 hour jam to remember. They must also be encouraged by news on how it would shorten travelling time plus the novelty, let the herd heading the same way. And the choke points on the surface roads only compounded the problem further. Maybe they should not have blow the trumpet so hard. This could be another reason for the big jam.
Today is the beginning of a new year and a new excitement. But there is no excitement on the MCE anymore. It is all routine. No need for red faces too.
Let me hazard another guess why this is so. Most of the office workers are likely to be back to work and traffic volume is expected to be high. But looking at the number of vehicles on this road, one wonders why there are so few cars on it. The no jam picture is likely due to the series of remedial actions taken by LTA to reduce the choke points and installing more traffic signs along the way, thus making driving easier. The motorists too will be more familiar with the new roads by now.
Some are still cynical and think that it is likely due to the large number of motorists avoiding the MCE altogether. With the greatly reduce traffic, sure the MCE will be like a free way for Formula One racing.
Whatever, it is a good start and people will gradually get use to this MCE and things will be better in times to come. Tomorrow will be better. Some people can breathe a sigh of relief that the $4.3b are well spent.
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