Out of the blue Singapore was caught in a verbal spat with Indonesia
over the naming of a frigate after two terrorists that exploded a bomb
in the heart of the city in the 1963. Were there any signs that
something is brewing that the public do not know? Was the cancelling of
the contract to buy natural gas a precursor to this spat? There was also
an announcement by Indonesia not selling granite to us after the gas
contract was terminated. Subsequent to the blow up of the frigate naming
it was reported that the Indonesians were planning to erect statues in
honour of the two terrorists they regarded as heroes in Batam, literally
right at our door step. What else did the public were not privy to that
drew the ministers to make their firm objections to the frigate naming?
Did they know something more sinister than the public?
The sequence of events with publicity in the media, in the TV networks,
revealed that a lot of work and resources had been involved in putting
up the media reports and TV programmes on the issue. To the public it
seemed to come out of the blue but to the govt it was a coordinated
event to make a very strong point to the Indonesians with the risk of
heightening tension between the two states. And if not managed
carefully, if both sides were less restrained, we would have a crisis at
hand.
Fortunately the event has now quiet down and relations are at even heel,
I hope, after the ‘storm in the tea cup’. This prompted some to comment
that it was an exercise to drum up the spirit of nationalism among the
Sinkies that has ebbed. The people seem to be taking the relative peace
and security for granted and a dose of nationalism with an external
factor could be good for the soul of the nation.
Assuming that this is a possible reason, it makes sense for the leaders
to come out one by one to talk tough and for the media to keep splashing
spreads of articles on the subject daily. There was a hype to arouse
the sense of belonging, a national identity and a need to stand up for
the country.
If this is the objective of the exercise, the response from the people
was muted. Not many took heed of the call to rise to the occasion. There
was an absence of a public outcry to support the leaders’ call. There
was not much anger or excitement towards a possible external aggressive
intent. It was a non event.
Why didn’t the people answer the call of the leaders to speak as one
voice against an external event? Is it another case of complacency, that
the people did not see anything unto it, that the naming of the frigate
was uncalled for but so what? Or was it that the leaders were not
forceful enough to rally the people behind them? If the intent was to
gel the people as one with the leaders, it did not happen. The people
were not aroused, or was it a case of the leaders not inspiring the
people to rise to the occasion, to take the cue and follow them? Was it a
test of leadership? Or was it a gauge on how apathetic the daft Sinkies
are?
There was no spontaneous outcry like what happened to Anton Casey. It
was just like a rehash of a past event, a lesson in history. Period. The
people did not feel the spurs on their hide to feel anything.
What do you think?
2/25/2014
Battle of China
The forgotten history of American China relations was recorded in a film
made by Frank Capra. This movie can be googled under the title ‘Battle
of China’. Today China is enemy number One to the Americans for no
other reasons than a challenge to its world domination as the number One
superpower. China was friend and ally in World War Two but enemy when
it turned to communism and joined the Soviet camp. The Cold War and
rhetoric embedded in the generations of post war Americans see China
through a tinted glass and reinforced by the daily barrage of western
media and propaganda. The reason then was communism.
Today China was anything but communist. China is the number trading partner of America. China is America’s number One financier. China is sending its bright students to America to learn the American way of life. China is a capitalist state in the mould of America but with socialist ideas. China has many commonalities with America and has many common interests too. But China is seen as an enemy, promoted in all literatures as an enemy.
The Yellow Peril still lingers in the mindset of the Americans. But the Yellow Peril came and gone, in the form of little yellow Japanese, as quoted in Frank Capra’s movie, that sunk the American Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbour. The Chinese are arriving in America and in Canada as normal immigrants, economic immigrants, not the likes of little yellow Japanese with plans to conquer America as in the Tanaka Memorial of world conquest. The Chinese do not have such a plan.
In the Battle of China, America was China’s biggest ally. America provided all the logistics and weapons, from artillery pieces, vehicles, fighter and bomber aircraft, to China in its fight against the invading Japanese. The Americans trained and equipped Chinese soldiers and airmen in Arizona and New Mexico, and fought side by side with them against the Japanese Imperial Army. America played a vital role in saving China from the Japanese. And the British, Dutch and other European soldiers were also fighting on the side of the Chinese with the Americans.
Why is it that China today is America’s number One enemy and Japan is America’s friend? The craps about ideology and communism belonged to a bygone era. The two economies are intertwined and interdependent on each other. Both countries can prosper together and there is no real reason to maintain a mindset of hostility. China is not there to conquer America or the rest of the world like the Japanese. China does not have a plan for world conquest.
It was only opportune that America won the Second World War or else it would become a colony of Japan. Australia too would be a Japanese colony. Though it is no longer feasible for such an ambitious plan by Japan to rule the world, the psychic of the Japanese is very different from the Chinese. The former is still harbouring the desire to revive Japanese Imperialistic glory while China is only reclaiming what belongs to her and were taken away during the days when it was a semi colonized country.
Can the Americans tell the difference between the Chinese and the Japanese? Which is the real Yellow Peril? Let me quote a short passage by Craig White from his book, ‘In Search of the Origin of Nations’.
‘Documents discovered in military archives in 1993 uncovered
a Japanese plot to attack Sydney and Melbourne with bubonic
plague, the black death. In its Harbin biological warfare centre
in Manchuria, the infamous Imperial Army Unit 731 succesfully
bred plague bacteria (in addition to cholera, typhoid, anthrax
etc) and deliberately infected 3,000 Chinese, Korean and
Mongolian civilians with the diseases from which they died
horrible deaths. Plague-infected fleas were dropped over Changde
in Hunan Province and elsewhere, resulting in an epidemic which
killed several hundred in a few days. As the war was drawing to
an end, they planned to send plagues into Samoa, Guam and the
Philippines as well as Dutch Harbour in Alaska. Journal records
show that Unit 731 was ordered to ensure that the bacteria could
be taken by ship or submarine to Sydney, Melbourne and Hawaii and released to kill hundreds of thousands.’
Today China was anything but communist. China is the number trading partner of America. China is America’s number One financier. China is sending its bright students to America to learn the American way of life. China is a capitalist state in the mould of America but with socialist ideas. China has many commonalities with America and has many common interests too. But China is seen as an enemy, promoted in all literatures as an enemy.
The Yellow Peril still lingers in the mindset of the Americans. But the Yellow Peril came and gone, in the form of little yellow Japanese, as quoted in Frank Capra’s movie, that sunk the American Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbour. The Chinese are arriving in America and in Canada as normal immigrants, economic immigrants, not the likes of little yellow Japanese with plans to conquer America as in the Tanaka Memorial of world conquest. The Chinese do not have such a plan.
In the Battle of China, America was China’s biggest ally. America provided all the logistics and weapons, from artillery pieces, vehicles, fighter and bomber aircraft, to China in its fight against the invading Japanese. The Americans trained and equipped Chinese soldiers and airmen in Arizona and New Mexico, and fought side by side with them against the Japanese Imperial Army. America played a vital role in saving China from the Japanese. And the British, Dutch and other European soldiers were also fighting on the side of the Chinese with the Americans.
Why is it that China today is America’s number One enemy and Japan is America’s friend? The craps about ideology and communism belonged to a bygone era. The two economies are intertwined and interdependent on each other. Both countries can prosper together and there is no real reason to maintain a mindset of hostility. China is not there to conquer America or the rest of the world like the Japanese. China does not have a plan for world conquest.
It was only opportune that America won the Second World War or else it would become a colony of Japan. Australia too would be a Japanese colony. Though it is no longer feasible for such an ambitious plan by Japan to rule the world, the psychic of the Japanese is very different from the Chinese. The former is still harbouring the desire to revive Japanese Imperialistic glory while China is only reclaiming what belongs to her and were taken away during the days when it was a semi colonized country.
Can the Americans tell the difference between the Chinese and the Japanese? Which is the real Yellow Peril? Let me quote a short passage by Craig White from his book, ‘In Search of the Origin of Nations’.
‘Documents discovered in military archives in 1993 uncovered
a Japanese plot to attack Sydney and Melbourne with bubonic
plague, the black death. In its Harbin biological warfare centre
in Manchuria, the infamous Imperial Army Unit 731 succesfully
bred plague bacteria (in addition to cholera, typhoid, anthrax
etc) and deliberately infected 3,000 Chinese, Korean and
Mongolian civilians with the diseases from which they died
horrible deaths. Plague-infected fleas were dropped over Changde
in Hunan Province and elsewhere, resulting in an epidemic which
killed several hundred in a few days. As the war was drawing to
an end, they planned to send plagues into Samoa, Guam and the
Philippines as well as Dutch Harbour in Alaska. Journal records
show that Unit 731 was ordered to ensure that the bacteria could
be taken by ship or submarine to Sydney, Melbourne and Hawaii and released to kill hundreds of thousands.’
Little India riot – Snippets of COI
The details of the inquiry on the Little India riot are being reported
fully in the media. The transparency index is as good as 100% with
everything in the open. So far, other than the experts in the COI
committee, the witnesses are also proving to be experts themselves. The
two Certis Cisco officers are giving very good and expert views on the
situation on that night and on how the riot could not have happened if
the police were well trained to handle such a situation and acted
swiftly to arrest the trouble makers before the situation worsen. This
is a valuable piece of information that the police should take note of.
Maybe the police should recruit them into the force to conduct lessons
on riot control. These are officers who have lived experience in a real
riot, something like soldiers with war experience, been there, very
valuable people to have.
Another thing that surfaced from the expert opinions is that the foreign workers were really like little innocent children, very nice but very soft. And the woman bus attendant was like Hercules, rough handling them. And with a push these construction workers from very polite environment in the villages, would be sent flying. I am exaggerating here. It was reported that they fell down when pushed by the woman attendant. The bus operators must take note of this and hire gentler bus attendants to handle the construction workers with more tender loving care, like little children. It is just not nice and not proper to manhandle these men, oops, I mean children, or treat them roughly, like shouting at them or pushing them around. Maybe a male attendant would be more gentle and can do the job better than a strong woman.
Maybe it was the pushing and the rough handling by the woman bus attendant that made these very nice construction workers very angry and wanted to kill her and burn the bus, according to the expert eye witness at the scene who understood Tamil spoken by the rioters.
There are so many valuable information and lessons to be learnt from the evidence coming out from the COI.
Another thing that surfaced from the expert opinions is that the foreign workers were really like little innocent children, very nice but very soft. And the woman bus attendant was like Hercules, rough handling them. And with a push these construction workers from very polite environment in the villages, would be sent flying. I am exaggerating here. It was reported that they fell down when pushed by the woman attendant. The bus operators must take note of this and hire gentler bus attendants to handle the construction workers with more tender loving care, like little children. It is just not nice and not proper to manhandle these men, oops, I mean children, or treat them roughly, like shouting at them or pushing them around. Maybe a male attendant would be more gentle and can do the job better than a strong woman.
Maybe it was the pushing and the rough handling by the woman bus attendant that made these very nice construction workers very angry and wanted to kill her and burn the bus, according to the expert eye witness at the scene who understood Tamil spoken by the rioters.
There are so many valuable information and lessons to be learnt from the evidence coming out from the COI.
Short sell reporting a prudent move
Goh Eng Yeow wrote about the plans by SGX to level the playing field to
require short sellers to report their short positions. This is a fair
statement to keep all investors posted with timely information of what
the big boys are doing in the market. The important point is that the
information will be made available to all in a timely fashion and not
some that are privy to information to take advantage of those that are
in the dark.
The SGX has another disclosure measure introduced last year that required investors to indicate their short positions as and when executed in the SGX system. The purported objective is to disclose such short positions to the public and investors, another level playing field effort. All short positions will henceforth be reported by SGX the next day. This seems very fair but is that so?
What happens is that for those computer traders who have their super computers plugged into the SGX system will have immediate information of any short positions and could capitalize on it instantly. They don’t have to wait till the next day to know the short positions. They have real time short selling information to take advantage of.
So, is there a level playing field? With computers plugged into the SGX to have real time information when other small traders do not have, how fair is the system?
Is there an elephant in the room?
The SGX has another disclosure measure introduced last year that required investors to indicate their short positions as and when executed in the SGX system. The purported objective is to disclose such short positions to the public and investors, another level playing field effort. All short positions will henceforth be reported by SGX the next day. This seems very fair but is that so?
What happens is that for those computer traders who have their super computers plugged into the SGX system will have immediate information of any short positions and could capitalize on it instantly. They don’t have to wait till the next day to know the short positions. They have real time short selling information to take advantage of.
So, is there a level playing field? With computers plugged into the SGX to have real time information when other small traders do not have, how fair is the system?
Is there an elephant in the room?
Anger mounting with more MRT disruptions
SMRT had another major disruption on the North South Line at peak hours
yesterday morning between Yew Tee and Kranji. And from a 10 minute delay
it went on to more than an hour, affecting the most vulnerable group of
commuters, students rushing to schools to take examinations. The anger
and frustration were all over the net. Some of the comments posted by
the youth and quoted in TRE are here:
Dory Shi Min: That is really nonsense. Board train at cck at 6.50 now is around 7.30 I still haven reach kranji. Hello I am having school exam
Zzq Alex: 10 min delay announcement at first then plus 20 min delay announcement then plus another additional 20min delay announcement…. Total stuck in train for 50 min… Now another 20 min delay announcements
Sky Oo: BULLSHIT!!!! Train faulty for 15min ? I waited 1hr30min and i am still stuck in the train haven reach destination. Poor service provider. We do not want word we are looking for action
Sue Salleh: What a sucking Monday SMRT!! And thanks as i’m in one of those affected train!!
Jeff Wong: Thanks for making me late for work today. I still could not board my train from woodlands for 30 mins already. The next interval at 6 mins during this peak hour. Come I clap for you.
Cheong Soon Hao: Can use cable tie fixed? I’m stuck for 30mins plus and counting
Dolphin De Esther: I am late for work…how mrt is gng to compensate tat?
WaOne Ketari: F**k you and ur management f**kin a***holes…!!!!!
Irene Kaea: SMRT you did it on purpose right? So that you can fine people $500 when they try to squeeze in the train when its full! If you want increase fare for more efficiency please show us, not breakdown everytime. Or is it we have no choice but to use your service so you dont give a fk about it and keep increasing price as n when you like?
Choi Dong Soo: Well done u wana raise the transportation fees for this crap service???
Alissa Ash Burn: On Monday… AGAIN? Why don’t u deploy your engineers on Sunday to do checks so it’s good to go for the peak hours???? Tts service for the people. We are not taking the train for free u know.
Justin Peh: Still say “smrt rank among better rail operators in international standards”?
There is no point belabouring on improving services and cutting down disruptions. It is better to look at the bright side. You may be wondering what can come out from these daily breakdowns that have become a new normal. For one, the engineers and management will gain first hand experience on trouble shooting, fire fighting and how to react to such failures on a daily basis. The experience earned would be of great value. They could then be as experienced as those engineers from 3rd World countries that have chalked up mountains of CVs for tackling frequent breakdowns in their train systems. Very experienced men.
Our public transportation experts could then use the experience to work in 3rd World countries to compete with their seasoned engineers and management, to prove who have handled more breakdowns and therefore better qualified for employment. From a recruitment point of view, somehow the ones that have more experience in a failed system are more attractive than those who worked on a system that has few breakdowns and their impeccable maintenance regime were not noticed. On home ground, the SMRT needs not have to recruit 3rd World engineers and experts anymore now that the chaps here are just as experienced as them.
Give it another few years we would have a highly trained and experienced team of engineers and experts that the last 40 years failed to produce. Not bad huh?
In every dark cloud there is a silver lining if you care to look for it. And now no one would dare to employ a sales girl to manage a complex engineering system. It is proven that an orchestra cannot play Mozart or Beethoven when the conductor is a bus driver no matter how talented he is in driving a bus.
PS. Students from the Republic Polytechnic were greatly affected by the train fault and many students unable to take their exams. Grades were affected even though SMRT late slips were given to the schools. Students would have to take another exam normally for students with MCs.
Kopi level - Green, nearly Blue
Dory Shi Min: That is really nonsense. Board train at cck at 6.50 now is around 7.30 I still haven reach kranji. Hello I am having school exam
Zzq Alex: 10 min delay announcement at first then plus 20 min delay announcement then plus another additional 20min delay announcement…. Total stuck in train for 50 min… Now another 20 min delay announcements
Sky Oo: BULLSHIT!!!! Train faulty for 15min ? I waited 1hr30min and i am still stuck in the train haven reach destination. Poor service provider. We do not want word we are looking for action
Sue Salleh: What a sucking Monday SMRT!! And thanks as i’m in one of those affected train!!
Jeff Wong: Thanks for making me late for work today. I still could not board my train from woodlands for 30 mins already. The next interval at 6 mins during this peak hour. Come I clap for you.
Cheong Soon Hao: Can use cable tie fixed? I’m stuck for 30mins plus and counting
Dolphin De Esther: I am late for work…how mrt is gng to compensate tat?
WaOne Ketari: F**k you and ur management f**kin a***holes…!!!!!
Irene Kaea: SMRT you did it on purpose right? So that you can fine people $500 when they try to squeeze in the train when its full! If you want increase fare for more efficiency please show us, not breakdown everytime. Or is it we have no choice but to use your service so you dont give a fk about it and keep increasing price as n when you like?
Choi Dong Soo: Well done u wana raise the transportation fees for this crap service???
Alissa Ash Burn: On Monday… AGAIN? Why don’t u deploy your engineers on Sunday to do checks so it’s good to go for the peak hours???? Tts service for the people. We are not taking the train for free u know.
Justin Peh: Still say “smrt rank among better rail operators in international standards”?
There is no point belabouring on improving services and cutting down disruptions. It is better to look at the bright side. You may be wondering what can come out from these daily breakdowns that have become a new normal. For one, the engineers and management will gain first hand experience on trouble shooting, fire fighting and how to react to such failures on a daily basis. The experience earned would be of great value. They could then be as experienced as those engineers from 3rd World countries that have chalked up mountains of CVs for tackling frequent breakdowns in their train systems. Very experienced men.
Our public transportation experts could then use the experience to work in 3rd World countries to compete with their seasoned engineers and management, to prove who have handled more breakdowns and therefore better qualified for employment. From a recruitment point of view, somehow the ones that have more experience in a failed system are more attractive than those who worked on a system that has few breakdowns and their impeccable maintenance regime were not noticed. On home ground, the SMRT needs not have to recruit 3rd World engineers and experts anymore now that the chaps here are just as experienced as them.
Give it another few years we would have a highly trained and experienced team of engineers and experts that the last 40 years failed to produce. Not bad huh?
In every dark cloud there is a silver lining if you care to look for it. And now no one would dare to employ a sales girl to manage a complex engineering system. It is proven that an orchestra cannot play Mozart or Beethoven when the conductor is a bus driver no matter how talented he is in driving a bus.
PS. Students from the Republic Polytechnic were greatly affected by the train fault and many students unable to take their exams. Grades were affected even though SMRT late slips were given to the schools. Students would have to take another exam normally for students with MCs.
Kopi level - Green, nearly Blue
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