MH370 – A case for transparency

The Chinese have been accusing the Malaysian Govt for lack of transparency and withholding information on the MH370 and hindering investigation into its disappearance. It is understandable if information is sensitive and could compromise national security. But what is so sensitive about the cargo manifest?
 
I quote from Yahoo News, ‘Hansford, chairman of Strategic Aviation Solutions, said the Malaysian government's decision not to publish the cargo manifest from flight MH370 suggests they are not being fully transparent.
“To me, there is no reason why they wouldn’t declare the cargo manifest unless you’ve got something to hide,” he said.
“There is no reason you wouldn’t have given it to AMSA (the Australian Maritime Safety Authority) on the first day of the search.”’
 
There are serious problems here. The Malaysian Govt has been quoted to say that there were several tons of mangosteen and rambutans or durians in the cargo hold. And there could be more. The reluctance to disclose the cargo manifest is creating more doubts and suspicion as to what really were in the cargo hold. Just because it was stated to be mangosteens or other fruits does not mean that it must be so. Likewise, just because a passenger checked in to be an American or whatever, needed be so.
 
There is a need to know the truth and more transparency needed from the Malaysian Govt. If they did not want to make it public, they could reveal it to govts with vested interests in the case with the provision of confidentiality. The cargo manifest could hold some clues to the case. Who knows, the mangosteens and fruits could be hijackers and their weapons. Who knows?
 
What is there to hide this information? The Malaysian Govt has a case to answer and needs to answer it fast. In fact it is already too late. That does not mean that they should no longer disclose the real content in the cargo hold of MH370. Have they investigated the cargo handlers or whoever had access to the cargo hold and could load things into the aircraft?
 
PS. I have a more interesting story by piecing a few leads together and it makes a lot of sense. Will hammer the story together and get it out tomorrow. It has a lot to do with the tons of mangosteens and durians on board MH370.

Meritocracy above nationality

‘Grit, groundedness and good sense should count as much. Finding the best people must entail appointing whoever can do the job best, regardless of gender, race, age, background, or even nationality.
 
So please, let’s go easy on the anti-foreigner ‘Singaporean first’ rhetoric that has become so popular these days. Give the job to whoever will deliver when it counts.’
I lifted the above quote by Warren Fernandez, ST Editor, from an editorial post in the TRE titled, ‘ST editor uses MH370 incident to champion pro-FT policy’
 
Many politicians and non politicians have been saying the same thing about meritocracy and may the best men be employed regardless of nationality. It means that Sinkies must give way if a better man can be found to replace him. I just want to remind these charlatans that the Sinkies are the citizens and NSmen of this country and have been conscripted to defend this country with their lives. Their family members have to live with their sacrifices to protect this country. If they can be so easily replaced by foreigners, then there is no reason or need for them to serve NS when their sacrifice for the country means nothing.
 
What are they defending when the political leaders and the elite do not think twice to replace them with supposedly ‘more able foreigners’? Is this the message to be told to the NS men, the citizens of this country? Should the govt disband National Service since NSmen are dispensable if they are found no better than a foreigner? The govt demands loyalty and a pledge to fight and die for the country from NSmen. What shall the NSmen demand from the govt for their ultimate sacrifice to die defending this country when they can be replaced by foreigners so easily?
 
What is happening? Now who is talking cock?

The virtuous cycle of fee hikes

Sinkies are blessed with a very generous govt that despite the its policy against a welfare state when giving money freely to the people is frowned upon, the govt is always there to help the people whenever there is a fee hike. Fee hikes of any form or nature will always be accompanied by the govt giving more subsidies to help the people to defray the rising fees.
 
The latest tuition fee hikes in universities and polytechnics again sees the govt coming out with more subsidies and grants to help the people. During his budget speech last month, DPM Tharman announced that the government will provide more support to more students for bursaries. The per capita monthly household income threshold will be raised from $1,700 to $1,900. This will cover students from two-thirds of all Singaporean households, he said. Thus only one third of all Singaporean households will be affected by the higher fees.
 
University undergraduates from the lowest one-third of households will see their bursaries increase to from S$2,900 to S$3,600 a year. Bursaries for middle-income students will be S$2,600 – this is an increase from S$2,150.
 
Polytechnic and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) students from middle-income households will also get more support. ITE bursaries for lower-income students will be higher than their fees, helping them defray living expenses, he said.
 
This is the virtuous cycle created by the govt, raise fees, raise subsidies, people pay new and higher fees with the subsidies, and the higher revenue goes back to the govt? Even if it does not go back to the govt directly, it still goes back to somewhere while the subsidies given to the people will just slip through their hands and disappeared just as quickly as they received it.
 
This is a very nice formula to tell the people that the govt is helping them with the rising cost and would guarantee that the people would always be grateful to a kind, compassionate and generous govt. It keeps on giving and taking and giving and taking and the people will not feel the pain if there is any.

A glimpse into the mindset of a PAP MP

Mr FairPrice or Seah Kian Peng gave an interview to Jessica Lim and she contributed two articles on him in the Newpaper today. In the article ‘New issues and a more demanding electorate’ she quoted some comments from Seah Kian Peng.
 
Seah Kian Peng reflected on the changing electorate and the changing aspiration and demands of the people and the hot buttons issues. The new issues, if his constituents could be a measure of the general population, are spiraling cost of healthcare and public transport/overcrowding and disruptions. The previous hot button issue of housing is over.
 
He did not say anything about the influx of foreigners and the increasing population that is causing a lot of pain to the Sinkies. Neither did he mention anything about the plight of PMEs and their replacement by foreigners, rendering them jobless or underemployed. For him not to mention this serious problem does not mean that it is not a problem to him or his party/govt. But it could be a lesser problem than healthcare and public transport. Or at least it is not a problem in his constituency.
 
Seah Kian Peng also commented on the mindset of the Sinkies, that they did not appreciate how important and valuable the current govt is and not knowing how bad things would be if they carelessly elect a new govt just because they were unhappy with a single issue. Here there are two points to it. The PAP is the best and any new govt will not be able to do better. So the people are risking their good life if they vote in a new govt. The second point is that the electorate are simple minded and would anyhow vote in a new govt because of one single issue of unhappiness. He did not think that the electorate could have weighed in all other factors and the one or two factors could be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
 
What was revealed in Seah Kian Peng’s thoughts and comments could be a reflection of the thinking of most of the PAP members. This is the pervasive mindset of a ruling party/govt. They are all believers of the PAP religion and doctrines…and god. The simplistic people did not know how good the PAP and govt are to them and contributing to their good life that no other party could do so. He forgot that he has acknowledged that the people are very well educated and this means that they are not simple minded and ignorant of what is happening or going on in the country. How can well educated electorate, many more educated than him, be so simple minded and unthinking than him?

The Henderson Brooks Report on the Sino Indian Border War 1962 – Top Secret

Spent my Sunday afternoon reading this interesting Top Secret report on the Sino Indian Border War in 1962. The Indian Govt is still holding this report dearly as a top Secret document. Ever since the decisive defeat of the Indian Army, the Indians have been telling the world that China was the aggressor and started the war. And the western media with its hidden agenda simply sang along and made China the bad boy.

This document described fully, in details, the role of the Indians in starting this border war, how it prepared an army corp to evict the Chinese border guards from the disputed borders and how it made all the preliminary incursions and occupation of Chinese positions that ignited the war. It was highlighted the arrogant mindset of the Indians and how they belittled the Chinese with comments like firing a few shots into the air and the Chinese soldiers would fled, or if they advanced and occupied Chinese positions the Chinese would not fight back.

It all started with Nehru’s Forward Policy, a term coined so innocently but with the intent to occupied Chinese territories at the China Indian border. A 4th Corp was commissioned and built up to support this campaign. And for several months, with the forces being introduced into the border area and advancing and occupying positions in the Chinese held positions, the Forward Policy seemed very easy and successful until the Chinese launched a counter offensive to retake all their lost positions and to re-establish the status quo. The border situation has since been maintained till today without the Chinese making any advances into Indian territories that was hyped in 1962 as China nibbling into Indian territories and used as the justification to occupy Chinese territories.

The Top Secret report is a very engaging read and a must read for military officers to get a feel of how the Indian built up an offensive force to the scale of an army corp and how the war was fought, the logistics and how the withdrawal was conducted when they were overwhelmed. There were also many revelations and insights into the thinking, psychic and the Indian perception of the Chinese and how the Chinese would react to their advances.

Reading the report is like a case study of a real war, not war games, with real statistics involving brigades and divisions. The report is still available at http://www.indiandefencereview.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/TopSecretdocuments2.pdf

This report is still banned by the Indian Govt and it is not sure how long it would be available before it is removed from the net. This is what Wikipedia commented on the report. ‘The Henderson Brooks-Bhagat report, also referred to as the Henderson Brooks report, is a classified report prepared by two Indian Army officers, Lieutenant-General Henderson Brooks and Brigadier Premindra Singh Bhagat, on the Sino-Indian War of 1962. Bhagat later was promoted as a lieutenant general. Part I of the two-part report was leaked in 2014 by a retired left-wing Australian journalist. (The second part deals with the enduring lessons of the Chinese aggression.)
 
The Henderson Brooks-P.S. Bhagat report was supposed to be an "operations review" of the causes of the Indian Army's humiliating rout by the ‘invading’ People's Liberation Army. The two investigating officers, however, skirted the operations review by focusing on the political causes of the rout in the war….’
 
The comments in Wikipedia were likely to be posted by an India author that still flouted the PLA as the invading forces and blaming China for the war. The Henderson Brooks report is the raw data and proof and what really happened and who was the aggressor. It categorically dismisses the Indian myth that they were the angels and were invaded by the Chinese.

Kopi Level - Green