“MY BIG Idea No. 3 for Singapore is a simple one: strengthen the Singapore spirit.
Why? If our young men ever go to war to defend Singapore, they will not
lay down their lives to defend the physical infrastructure of Singapore.
They will do so to save the lives of people who are the strangers they
meet in MRT trains or buses. Clearly they feel some kind of spiritual
bond with these strangers only because they believe that they are fellow
Singaporeans. This is what the Singapore spirit is all about.”
Kishore Mahbubani
- ST Apr 12: “Three stories to strengthen the Singapore spirit”
When I read the above quote I was kind of, what, what is that, who said
that? I can’t believe that Kishore said this. I find this quite bizarre
really for Kishore to say something like this. And my only excuse for him to
say this is that he must be having a glass too many of toddy or Macallen
single malt the night before.
Why would Sinkies die to defend foreigners who are here against their
wishes and with many cheating Sinkies of their livelihood with fake
qualifications and recruited because they were of the same kind, and
making Sinkies outcasts in their homeland? What kind of bonding of
Singaporean Spirit is Kishore talking about? Does he believe that
Sinkies are really that daft or duds?
Kishore, are you ok?
Oh, perhaps he was thinking that Sinkies are angels. Angels are a kind
of spirit, unthinking, just doing what God told them to do. So if God
said, go and defend the foreigners, the angels, Sinkies in spirit, will
go defending and dying for the foreigners who took their seats in the
MRT or squeezed them into a sardine can.
4/16/2014
Seah Chiang Nee :Top performers on the decline?
‘According to former PM Lee Kuan Yew – and quite a few employers – it
was good to have brought in foreign workers to offset the decline.
“Over time, Singaporeans had become less hard-driving and hard-striving,” Lee said in a 2011 interview.
The hard-talking Lee then upset many people when he said that if Singaporeans were falling behind because “the spurs are not stuck into the hide”, that was their problem.
He described the new immigrants from China and the region as “hungry” – helped by parents who “pushed the children very hard”.
(Actually, Singaporean parents are often accused of putting too much pressure on their kids.)
Lee had often made known his preference for the entrepreneurial spirit of the Hong Kong people.
Predictably, some Singaporeans were angry about the remarks that implied they were becoming lazy and ought to be spurred like slow horses.
One retiree said Lee was partly right: “Many middle class Singaporeans are becoming spoiled and complacent compared with (their counterparts in) some emerging nations.”’
The above paragraphs were from Seah Chiang Nee’s article on the decline of top talents among the Sinkie breed. The article was addressing the issue of falling talents in Singapore but the facts are contradictory, and so were the comments. The superficial comments that Sinkies are losing their drive to be world beaters did not make sense when the parents are pushing their children to the limits, hot housing them to be not only tops in academics by enrolling them in the best nurseries and kindergartens, but also in many artistic programmes to make them all rounders, the best of the best in everything. And their academic results have proven that this is the case.
During my time, or during yesteryears, in every cohort of O level or A level students, to find one with straight As is so difficult. Today, in the many top schools, throw a stone and you will hit a dozen with straight As. How can this be the case if the Sinkies are slacking, lazy and losing the drive to be better? And the latest PISA test proved that our 15 year olds are also world beaters.
Is someone talking cock or has his mind out of sync? But if you were to listen to the 3rd World recruiting agencies, given a licence to recruit foreigners for jobs here, they will tell you that indeed Sinkies are all useless, no talent, no skills, no creativity and poor workers. Unfortunately many of our foolish leaders and employers believe the foreign recruiting agents and went along to replace the ‘daft’ Sinkies with ‘talented and skilled’ employees from 3rd World cities and villages.
There is a silver lining though. Though the title of Seah Chiang Nee’s article is about the decline of top performers, this is only in general. Specifically Singapore is very lucky that the top talents in govt are not declining and in fact are living proof of supermen and superwomen. Just take a look at the portfolios they are involved in, many have 20 or 30 hats to wear as advisers and helming many organizations, ministries etc etc. They are the natural know alls, born to know everything, like immortals. I think without this group of super super top performers, Singapore would have gone back to the 3rd World long ago. These are the few top performers that are pulling the country out from the rut, with the help of 3rd World talents.
I am sure when Seah Chiang Nee said that top performers are on the decline, he was not referring to our top performers in govt.
Now what am I rumbling about and sounding so incoherent? My thoughts are all in a mess, and I am all confused with what I said too. What is the truth? Am I confusing everyone or is everyone confusing everyone? But one thing is true, we have the most talented and well trained and well qualified and ‘with a spur stuck on their hide’ taxi drivers in the world, fetching maids and construction workers all over the islands to amuse themselves and to have a good time.
Kopi level - Yellow
“Over time, Singaporeans had become less hard-driving and hard-striving,” Lee said in a 2011 interview.
The hard-talking Lee then upset many people when he said that if Singaporeans were falling behind because “the spurs are not stuck into the hide”, that was their problem.
He described the new immigrants from China and the region as “hungry” – helped by parents who “pushed the children very hard”.
(Actually, Singaporean parents are often accused of putting too much pressure on their kids.)
Lee had often made known his preference for the entrepreneurial spirit of the Hong Kong people.
Predictably, some Singaporeans were angry about the remarks that implied they were becoming lazy and ought to be spurred like slow horses.
One retiree said Lee was partly right: “Many middle class Singaporeans are becoming spoiled and complacent compared with (their counterparts in) some emerging nations.”’
The above paragraphs were from Seah Chiang Nee’s article on the decline of top talents among the Sinkie breed. The article was addressing the issue of falling talents in Singapore but the facts are contradictory, and so were the comments. The superficial comments that Sinkies are losing their drive to be world beaters did not make sense when the parents are pushing their children to the limits, hot housing them to be not only tops in academics by enrolling them in the best nurseries and kindergartens, but also in many artistic programmes to make them all rounders, the best of the best in everything. And their academic results have proven that this is the case.
During my time, or during yesteryears, in every cohort of O level or A level students, to find one with straight As is so difficult. Today, in the many top schools, throw a stone and you will hit a dozen with straight As. How can this be the case if the Sinkies are slacking, lazy and losing the drive to be better? And the latest PISA test proved that our 15 year olds are also world beaters.
Is someone talking cock or has his mind out of sync? But if you were to listen to the 3rd World recruiting agencies, given a licence to recruit foreigners for jobs here, they will tell you that indeed Sinkies are all useless, no talent, no skills, no creativity and poor workers. Unfortunately many of our foolish leaders and employers believe the foreign recruiting agents and went along to replace the ‘daft’ Sinkies with ‘talented and skilled’ employees from 3rd World cities and villages.
There is a silver lining though. Though the title of Seah Chiang Nee’s article is about the decline of top performers, this is only in general. Specifically Singapore is very lucky that the top talents in govt are not declining and in fact are living proof of supermen and superwomen. Just take a look at the portfolios they are involved in, many have 20 or 30 hats to wear as advisers and helming many organizations, ministries etc etc. They are the natural know alls, born to know everything, like immortals. I think without this group of super super top performers, Singapore would have gone back to the 3rd World long ago. These are the few top performers that are pulling the country out from the rut, with the help of 3rd World talents.
I am sure when Seah Chiang Nee said that top performers are on the decline, he was not referring to our top performers in govt.
Now what am I rumbling about and sounding so incoherent? My thoughts are all in a mess, and I am all confused with what I said too. What is the truth? Am I confusing everyone or is everyone confusing everyone? But one thing is true, we have the most talented and well trained and well qualified and ‘with a spur stuck on their hide’ taxi drivers in the world, fetching maids and construction workers all over the islands to amuse themselves and to have a good time.
Kopi level - Yellow
It is time China learns and behaves like the USA
China is no longer a second rate superpower aspiring to be a superpower.
It is a superpower like it or not. The only problem is that China still
does not learn to behave as superpower unlike Putin and Russia. When
one is a superpower, it is all about behaving as one. Failure to do so
will be seen as a sign of weakness and will invite unending troubles
from little pesky countries.
If China is to put a stop to all its territorial problems with its neighbours, it must act like Putin and send a signal to the pests that it means business and don’t fuck around with China. But it would be better to settle this problem the American way.
How did the Americans get rid of the native problems once and for all to claim the North American continent as theirs? The solution was simple, wipe out the natives decisively so that there was not an ounce of doubt that they were in charge. The native Americans were finished, no longer a threat, no longer a pest.
Americans might have the advantage of a western media that looked the other way to the genocide of the Red Indians. Even if they did make a little noise, it would soon go away, be forgotten. The little bad publicity and PR is worth everything to rid the problems of the natives claiming that the continent were theirs in the first place.
China could learn this trick from the Americans and kick some asses. Make sure their claims to the islands in East and South China Sea is uncontestable, beyond any reasonable doubt, by whacking the shit out of the irritating pests once and for all.
Remember how the Americans seized Hawaii from the islanders and the other Pacific Islands? There is no room for being soft and niceties. Let the western media have a field day cursing and swearing as much and as long as they want. But China will have peace and no more nonsense from its neighbours and none will come scratching or wanting to claim any Chinese territories for good. There is no need to be bothered about western media. What ever China do would be wrong and would be bashed and condemned by them. Let’s face it, the western media and western powers would have nothing good to say about China even if China behaves like an angel.
20 or 30 years down the road, or 50 years into the future, there will be no more nonsensical claims from its neighbours, just like there will be no more Red Indians claiming they were the owners of the American continent or the Hawaiians wanting to be independent from the Americans. And to think that Chuck Hagel had the gumption to say this in Japan, ‘You cannot go around and redefine boundaries, violate territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations by force, coercion and intimidation – whether it’s in small islands in the Pacific or large nations in Europe…So I want to talk to our Chinese friends about this.’ This joker must be borne only yesterday and does not know the history of the Americans or how Japan seized Diaoyu Islands from China and how the treacherous Americans handed the islands back to the Japanese when they should return them to China.
China should tell Hagel straight in the face about the real America, the bully of the world. This is the way of a superpower. Would the Americans want to risk a nuclear war with China? The Americans have all their islands in all the oceans. The Americans can have their ADIZs unilaterally declared without consulting anyone. The Americans can have their Monroe Doctrine to claim the western hemisphere of North and South Americas as their sphere of influence and no European, Asian or South American powers is allowed to challenge their supremacy and domination over the western hemisphere.
China just has to do it, and cleans up its act in the East and South China Seas once and for all, if it is to be respected and feared as a superpower. By not doing so, any little pesky country would think it can challenge Chinese supremacy and claim Chinese territories as theirs. China must put a stop to such naïve abrasiveness and, be like the Americans, put an end to the Red Indian civilization, for good.
If China is to put a stop to all its territorial problems with its neighbours, it must act like Putin and send a signal to the pests that it means business and don’t fuck around with China. But it would be better to settle this problem the American way.
How did the Americans get rid of the native problems once and for all to claim the North American continent as theirs? The solution was simple, wipe out the natives decisively so that there was not an ounce of doubt that they were in charge. The native Americans were finished, no longer a threat, no longer a pest.
Americans might have the advantage of a western media that looked the other way to the genocide of the Red Indians. Even if they did make a little noise, it would soon go away, be forgotten. The little bad publicity and PR is worth everything to rid the problems of the natives claiming that the continent were theirs in the first place.
China could learn this trick from the Americans and kick some asses. Make sure their claims to the islands in East and South China Sea is uncontestable, beyond any reasonable doubt, by whacking the shit out of the irritating pests once and for all.
Remember how the Americans seized Hawaii from the islanders and the other Pacific Islands? There is no room for being soft and niceties. Let the western media have a field day cursing and swearing as much and as long as they want. But China will have peace and no more nonsense from its neighbours and none will come scratching or wanting to claim any Chinese territories for good. There is no need to be bothered about western media. What ever China do would be wrong and would be bashed and condemned by them. Let’s face it, the western media and western powers would have nothing good to say about China even if China behaves like an angel.
20 or 30 years down the road, or 50 years into the future, there will be no more nonsensical claims from its neighbours, just like there will be no more Red Indians claiming they were the owners of the American continent or the Hawaiians wanting to be independent from the Americans. And to think that Chuck Hagel had the gumption to say this in Japan, ‘You cannot go around and redefine boundaries, violate territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations by force, coercion and intimidation – whether it’s in small islands in the Pacific or large nations in Europe…So I want to talk to our Chinese friends about this.’ This joker must be borne only yesterday and does not know the history of the Americans or how Japan seized Diaoyu Islands from China and how the treacherous Americans handed the islands back to the Japanese when they should return them to China.
China should tell Hagel straight in the face about the real America, the bully of the world. This is the way of a superpower. Would the Americans want to risk a nuclear war with China? The Americans have all their islands in all the oceans. The Americans can have their ADIZs unilaterally declared without consulting anyone. The Americans can have their Monroe Doctrine to claim the western hemisphere of North and South Americas as their sphere of influence and no European, Asian or South American powers is allowed to challenge their supremacy and domination over the western hemisphere.
China just has to do it, and cleans up its act in the East and South China Seas once and for all, if it is to be respected and feared as a superpower. By not doing so, any little pesky country would think it can challenge Chinese supremacy and claim Chinese territories as theirs. China must put a stop to such naïve abrasiveness and, be like the Americans, put an end to the Red Indian civilization, for good.
4/15/2014
MH370 – PM Abbott knows
‘“Yes, we have very considerably narrowed down the search area but
trying to locate anything 4.5 kilometres beneath the surface of the
ocean about a thousand kilometres from land is a massive, massive task
and it is likely to continue for a long time to come,” Abbott said.
His comments come a day after he said he was “very confident” that signals detected in the search for Flight MH370 are from the aircraft’s black box, whose batteries are waning fast more than a month after the plane vanished….
“We are confident that we know the position of the black box flight recorder to within some kilometres,” Abbott said Friday on his trip to China,…’ Quoted from The Star online.
Of all the Prime Ministers making comments about the MH370, Abbott is the only one who spoke with an unusual confidence. Every time he said something, he gave the impression that he knew something more than what he said. In the above quote, Abbott is as good as saying that he knew the signals detected by the Australians are definitely from the MH370 blackbox and he knew where that blackbox is. And he also knew that the MH370 will not be found there, ie got black but no aircraft wreckage.
From the very first day he called PM Najib, and he was accused of jumping the gun, it came across that he had full information of what happened to the MH370. And he was so convincing that Najib even committed himself to declare MH370 sank in the Antarctic and the passengers were as good as gone. Maybe Najib is also in the picture.
Did the confidence of Abbott tell anyone something, that he had privy knowledge from some sources on the MH370? He appears to be someone who wanted to tell the whole story but has been restrained from doing so. For anyone who wants to know more about MH370, it is best to talk to Abbott or to listen to what he said or not said and try to read in between the lines.
I think he knows a lot more. Wait for the confirmation that only the black boxes are found but no trace of the aircraft.
His comments come a day after he said he was “very confident” that signals detected in the search for Flight MH370 are from the aircraft’s black box, whose batteries are waning fast more than a month after the plane vanished….
“We are confident that we know the position of the black box flight recorder to within some kilometres,” Abbott said Friday on his trip to China,…’ Quoted from The Star online.
Of all the Prime Ministers making comments about the MH370, Abbott is the only one who spoke with an unusual confidence. Every time he said something, he gave the impression that he knew something more than what he said. In the above quote, Abbott is as good as saying that he knew the signals detected by the Australians are definitely from the MH370 blackbox and he knew where that blackbox is. And he also knew that the MH370 will not be found there, ie got black but no aircraft wreckage.
From the very first day he called PM Najib, and he was accused of jumping the gun, it came across that he had full information of what happened to the MH370. And he was so convincing that Najib even committed himself to declare MH370 sank in the Antarctic and the passengers were as good as gone. Maybe Najib is also in the picture.
Did the confidence of Abbott tell anyone something, that he had privy knowledge from some sources on the MH370? He appears to be someone who wanted to tell the whole story but has been restrained from doing so. For anyone who wants to know more about MH370, it is best to talk to Abbott or to listen to what he said or not said and try to read in between the lines.
I think he knows a lot more. Wait for the confirmation that only the black boxes are found but no trace of the aircraft.
Any protection for whistleblower
Below is an extract from a posting in TRE attributed to WSJ online. I quote,
‘ (9 Apr) – A top Deutsche Bank AG saleswoman was placed on leave last month after the German bank found what it regarded as inappropriate communication between her and Singapore’s central bank, according to a person familiar with the matter, marking a significant new twist in the yearlong global investigation into the currency market.
Kai Lew, a director of sales at Deutsche Bank in London tasked with handling central-bank clients, was put on leave because the bank — the biggest currency dealer in the world — concluded that she had communicated improperly with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, or MAS, this person said. She is one of roughly 30 employees at nine banks who have been fired or suspended as part of a burgeoning global investigation into possible manipulation of currency markets, and the first in sales rather than trading. At the time her suspension was first reported, March 31, the reasons for the move were unclear….’
What if this employee is blowing the whistle on her bank? What is the difference between her ‘inappropriate communication between her and Singapore’s central bank’ and that of whistleblowing? If she is whistleblowing, should she be protected? Who should be protecting a whistleblower? If whistleblowers are not protected, who would dare to become whistleblower?
‘ (9 Apr) – A top Deutsche Bank AG saleswoman was placed on leave last month after the German bank found what it regarded as inappropriate communication between her and Singapore’s central bank, according to a person familiar with the matter, marking a significant new twist in the yearlong global investigation into the currency market.
Kai Lew, a director of sales at Deutsche Bank in London tasked with handling central-bank clients, was put on leave because the bank — the biggest currency dealer in the world — concluded that she had communicated improperly with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, or MAS, this person said. She is one of roughly 30 employees at nine banks who have been fired or suspended as part of a burgeoning global investigation into possible manipulation of currency markets, and the first in sales rather than trading. At the time her suspension was first reported, March 31, the reasons for the move were unclear….’
What if this employee is blowing the whistle on her bank? What is the difference between her ‘inappropriate communication between her and Singapore’s central bank’ and that of whistleblowing? If she is whistleblowing, should she be protected? Who should be protecting a whistleblower? If whistleblowers are not protected, who would dare to become whistleblower?
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