USA signing another defence pact

Signing military pact is about the only thing left that the Americans can do well. It has nothing else to offer to the world except military might, the ability to incite and start wars, to intimidate, to threaten and conduct regime change. It has been doing this since the end of WW2, professing peace but starting wars and conducting wars across the world.
 
Yesterday it signed another defence pact with Manila and officially claiming that ti was not meant to contain China but knowing very well why Manila needs this military pact to back its outrageous and foolish behaviour against China. Obama also cited US defence treaty to defend Japanese territories, including territories in dispute or not part of Japan. For all intent and purposes, no one is believing what the Americans are saying and everyone is very clear the intent behind all these military pacts. Do not be surprised if a proposal for another military pact with Malaysia was on the table during Obama’s meeting with Najib.
 
China is furious and justifiably so. The military pact with Manila would simply embolden Aquino to be more reckless to take on China in the South China Sea. This military pact would only raise tension and the likelihood of a military confrontation between China and the Philippines.
 
China should not waste its time trying to be diplomatic to assuage the Americans from supporting the Pinoys. That is their intent and they will go all out to encourage the Pinoys to provoke the Chinese in the disputed islands. Both the Japanese and the Pinoys have the Americans behind them and would be more trigger happy to harass and attack the Chinese ships in the disputed seas. Regional tensions would only increase with the Americans claiming right of action to defend their military allies.
 
Did the Red Indians say white men spoke with fork tongue, or should it be changed to black men speak with fork tongue? With a bankrupt economy, the Americans have nothing left to offer except weapons of war.

SDP announcing its first candidate for the GE

Chee Soon Juan will be standing as a candidate for the SDP in the next GE. He has completely discharged his bankruptcy obligations after losing several libel suits against the PAP politicians. It has been a long time since he stood for a GE, best known or remembered when he challenged Chok Tong with the call, ‘Where is the money?’ or something like that. And that was followed by the sagas of postage fees and taxi fare claims when his professor had to take taxis to confirm that his claims were not in order. The thing that prevented him from standing in past GEs was his bankruptcy status due to his inability to pay the compensations awarded to those who brought suits against him.
 
Chee Soon Juan is back. Actually he never left. He was watching from the sideline or sitting at the benches, acting as manager or coaches to his team in every GE. How would the public view his return to the political fray? What were the wrongs of this man that had kept him away from political office for so long? He is no Anwar Ibrahim and less controversial in many ways. Would the voters take his past as a price he had to pay for being in politics at the wrong time when politics was vicious and ugly? I am not sure if it is less vicious and less ugly today. Only time will tell.
 
How would the PAP handle him this time with the old guards out of the way? Would Chee face the likes of LKY and Chok Tong again and go through the same political ordeal one more time? Or has time changed and the political climate is more stable, more mature and less vindictive and more civil? The PAP would likely put every obstacle they could find in his way to keep him out of Parliament. And they would have a lot to say about Chee Soon Juan. The only thing that matters is whether the voters would believe them or would even view them in favour of Chee.
 
There are many good things to talk about this man as a politician, tenacity, believing strongly in his cause and mission, offering an alternative formula to the current mantra, a no fly by night operator or fair weather politician. He would not go away after a defeat. He comes back fighting. Above all, he is a great orator and would give all the great debators in the PAP a run for their money in Parliament.
 
Would the people see the good things in this man to send him into Parliament? Or would they believe in the PAP narrative of Chee Soon Juan and turn away from him?

Kopi Level - Green

How many PAP candidates will stand down in the next GE?

In every GE PAP will take the opportunity to do some self renewable with some veterans or non performers being replaced. In the last GE 24 new candidates were introduced while 18 were retired. How many new candidates would be introduced this time and how many would be retired? Given the 87 seats to be contested, the numbers are likely to be quite similar plus or minus a couple.
 
Assuming the same 24/18 combinations will be used again, let’s see who would be the likely candidates to miss the party this time. The new faces are more difficult to have a few except for the inner circles in the PAP. As for the 18 to let go, can we consider that 6 had been let off during the last GE, ie one from Hougang and 5 from Aljunied GRC? If this be so, then only 12 more will be retired this time.
 
The obvious candidates would be LKY, Chok Tong and the three ex ministers of Kan Seng, Mah Bow Tan and Raymond Lim. That would bring the numbers left to 7. Anyone got any inkling of any MP that has been perpetually absent from Parliamentary sessions? That would be a good indication that they would not be fielded and thus don’t have to make their presence felt.
 
Another good possibility would be the veteran MPs like Charles Chong, Teo Ho Pin, Inderjit Singh, Seng Han Tong and Arthur Fong. If these 5 are out then it would be left with 2. Maybe PAP might want to take out a few more if they have enough new candidates to fill in. I think the new faces in the last GE would probably be allowed to stay on for another term and they can be counted out from the retirement list.
 
This will leave a few not so old faces like Yeo Guat Kwang, Alvin Yeo, Lily Neo, Irene Ng, Ellen Lee, Jessica Tan, Denise Phua and the popular Lim Wee Kiat and Baey Yam Keng for consideration for the last few retirement slots.
 
What do you think? What? Vivian? Did anyone say Vivian?

Kopi Level - Green. Nearly turn Blue.

Chong Kee Hiong - PAP introduces a high flyer

I thought after the last GE PAP will be pulling more grassroot leaders to stand in the next GE. Now we are seeing another of PAP’s elite in Chong Kee Hiong as a potential candidate. His academic records and CV are typical of the kind of quality expected of a top notch PAP candidate. This one is another minister grade candidate for sure. He came from RI, a scholar and a high performer.
 
The bloggers are having a bit of misgivings on the thoughts of this elite. A post in TRE quoting an interview with ST two years ago highlighted the disappointment he had when he got one academic prize instead of two at Primary 5. He scored top marks in Mathematics and Chinese but the Math’s prize was given to another student with half a mark lesser than him all because the teacher taught he had won one prize too many. ‘I didn’t argue with the teacher but I was very upset. The fact that I still remember it with such clarity shows that I am still disturbed by it…The episode went against the idea of fair play and meritocracy.’ The quotes were posted in the TRE article and claimed ST as its source.
 
I can understand how a Pri 5 kid felt when a prize he deservedly won was taken away from him. This Chong has all the right to be unhappy. Now, why was this reported in the ST as claimed in the TRE article? What kind of image would be projected because of this incident and how the public will view it? For the less talented masses, one thought is likely to be, share share a bit lah, why want to win so many prizes. To some elite, this is unacceptable. Meritocracy is meritocracy, it is about the best getting the best. They worked for it, they are talented and deserved it.
 
Somehow I got this nagging feeling that Chong or the ST was misquoted. The self centred elitist tag is not a comfortable one to wear for a person seeking political office. In politics, there are more to it than just black and white or getting what one is entitled to or deservingly so. And I am very sure this Chong is politically smart and sensitive enough not to make such a statement in public and draw unfavourable flaks.
 
What is happening?

Is SMRT a private or public company?

‘(Reuters) - Singapore's SMRT Corp Ltd , the operator of the city-state's main rail network, asked the government on Wednesday about a financing framework which would reduce its capital expenditure, The Straits Times reported….25 Apr 14
 
SMRT has previously expressed interest in changing to a financing framework that was introduced by the government in 2010. Under this system, the government would own the assets, and be responsible for replacing them. This would free SMRT from having to incur huge capital expenditures on asset replacement.’
 
I dunno what to make out of this latest call from SMRT. The SMRT was built using public fund. It then went private, got listed and run as a profit making business. In the meantime, the money spent on the infrastructure, the land, did not become part of the computation of cost. And SMRT has been making millions annually and paying its management staff handsomely because of the great profits.
 
With this new development, with the govt bearing the cost of assets and asset replacement, SMRT could run an operation without huge capital expenditures and thus can register huge profits. How real is this profit? Is there anything wrong with this new formula? Where on earth can one run a private profit oriented business with the major part of the cost taken out of the equation, to be paid by the govt?
 
Who eventually have to pay for the cost and who will be benefitting from the profit without capital expenditure and asset replacement? Should SMRT be returned and run as a public service, a stats board?