The thinking of a non nation state

Andrew Loh wrote an article, ‘More foreigners to be police officers’ in the Online Citizen. His article highlighted the growing number of foreigners employed in the SPF and the Auxiliary Police as well as the unarmed security officers. In the latter, out of 60,000 unarmed security officers, 35,000 are foreigners. When asked in Parliament, Chee Hean did not exactly reveal the number of foreigners in the Police Force but confirmed that foreigners have been recruited since 1970.
 
The hiring of foreigners, ie PRs, as police officers is like a natural thing in this non nation city state. According to Police Operations Director Lau Peet Meng as quoted in Today paper, “diversity within the force is good to keep up with changes in society…We need, to some extent, some sensitivity to understand our foreign population,” he said. “The danger is if it’s (purely Singaporean), you will lose touch with the people you’re policing.”
 
What this city state is doing is Uniquely Singapore as no other Asean state will do the same, to recruit foreigners into their police force so happily and so comfortable with their presence. In Malaysia, they are even paranoid in having too many of the non bumiputra citizens joining the police force for political and security reasons. In our global city, no nation concept, free open border, free immigration policies, there is absolutely nothing to worry about with foreigners in the police force. We even have foreigners turning new citizens sitting in Parliament. But that is only a natural development when anyone living in this island, citizen or not, has a share of this place.
 
Nothing untowards will happen to this global city state even if the foreigners were to become the majority in the island and take over this island. And it is only natural, with their greater presence to have greater representation in all aspects of life and economic activities in the city, including representation in the police, the military and political office. It is meritocracy regardless of race or nationality. Only a non nation state will subscribe to such thinking.
 
As long as the citizens are comfortable with the ever growing presence of foreigners in this non nation city state and do not get agitate for losing their special position and rights as citizens, then everything is ok. By the time 6.9m is a reality, foreigners can be everywhere, employed in all ministries, a natural thing to come.
 
What was the intent of Andrew Loh to write his article on the growing presence of more foreigners in the Police Force? What is his message or concern? Personally I would be furious if a foreigner in uniform were to check on me just because he didn’t like my face. I am a NS man, pledged to defend and die for this nation, or has it become a non nation? Why should I be searched or questioned by a foreigner in my country when I was trained to protect and fight to prevent foreigners from taking over this country?
 
You tell me lah.

KopiLevel - Green

Foreign leader telling our govt what to do?

‘Merinews.com, 2 May 2014
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Tony Tan Keng Yam have been urged to put an end to blatant discrimination reportedly prevalent in the rental housing market of Singapore against Indians.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that rental listings saying “no Indians” should not be acceptable in the 21st century, especially in Singapore which claimed to promote multiculturalism and racial harmony.
Zed argued that racial discrimination should not be condoned and a legislative effort might be required for a more specific anti-discrimination law in housing.’

The above is a sign of more things to come when foreigners and foreign govts think they have a right to tell our govt what to do, a kind of interference with our domestic affairs. So how should our govt respond to such remarks? Don’t forget, if we don’t comply and don’t behave respectfully to their demands, they may pull back all their workers and not allow them to work here. Then we will not have cheap labour and no economic growth. You want economic growth?

What do you think? Should our govt say yes, yes, we will do as you wish? Or would the govt show him the middle finger? The advertisements for ‘No Indians and No PRCs’ are done by private landlords who have had bad experiences with these group of foreigners. And it is their right as to who they want to rent out their properties to. Tiok boh? Many have had very bad experiences with the tenants and ended losing a lot of money. Should our govt tell this foreign leader to go and reflect on his people and educate his people to respect the properties rented to them and live like decent respectable Singaporeans with proper hygiene and cleanliness?

Or maybe they can squat at the Istana garden if they cannot find a landlord willing to let their properties to them. This could be a good compromise solution. And it is a temporary problem. Once Sinkies are used to their unhygienic country bumpkin lifestyles, once Sinkies have integrated with their way of life, I think it will no longer be a problem. Just get use to the untidiness, the smell of unclean homes and unwashed bodies. These are the experiences of those who have rented their properties to them or who have lived next to them. Welcome to the new Sinkieland of 3rd World living. We are progressing into the 3rd World.

Though not all are bad and dirty tenants, it only needs a few bad experiences and the landlord would only want to play safe to protect their properties. Is it wrong for the landlord to protect themselves or is it another form of xenophobia?

Kopi Level - green

MH370 – There is no closure

After more than two months of crazy searching nothing was found of the MH370. There was no debris, no sign of any passenger’s body floating anywhere, no sign of the black boxes. Is it about time to close the chapter and send everyone home?

An aircraft with 239 passengers cannot just disappear into nowhere. And the most foolish thing to believe is that the aircraft crashed and sank into the Antarctic Ocean. A suicidal pilot, a mad pilot, a dead pilot, all would not have reason to want to fly the aircraft to the Antarctics. An aircraft on auto pilot, with a destination in Beijing cannot be flying to the Antarctics.

But then, there seemed to be someone deliberately and intentionally wanting everyone to believe the aircraft sank in the Antarctics. This someone was even influential enough to have agencies cooking up flimsy evidences to point to the Antarctics. Destination Antarctics was a deliberate hoax to turn all attentions away from the real location of the aircraft and its passengers. Sure, maybe 3 years or 5 years down the road they will pick up a rusty black box in the Antarctics to prove that MH370 was there but with all information destroyed.

The clue to the missing MH370 lies in its cargoes. Malaysia must come up fully open to disclose everything that was in the cargo hull of the aircraft, the owners, the cargoes, where the cargoes were heading to. Malaysia cannot hide under the secrecy excuse and refuse to cooperate on this revelation. 239 lives are at stake. Malaysia must lay bear everything for the investigators to work on and to find out the motive and reasons for the missing aircraft. There are too many things that the Malaysian govt is not telling and is thus implicated in this sordid and wicked affair.

It is time for Malaysia to come clean and transparent to tell the whole truth to help investigations to go on to the next stage. Two months have been wasted by misinformation and disinformation. It is so evil for people to mislead the search parties who were trying to save lives. Would the Malaysian govt have the conscience to raise the bar and tell all for the truth to surface? Or would Malaysia choose to continue with its wayang that it was also a victim, an innocent party that did not know anything? The least the Malaysian govt can do to distance itself from being implicated is to tell all it knows starting with the content of the cargoes and the details of ownership and destination.

There will be no closure until all stones are unturned. It cannot be otherwise. The most irresponsible thing to do now is to close the chapter and presume all the passengers are dead. They may be still alive waiting to be rescued. And the perpetrators may just be waiting for the signal that the whole world has given up on the passengers as the green light to terminate them.

This is the time to conduct extensive investigation work to find the passengers. Follow the examples of the Israelis to track down the hijackers. Deplore all resources and people to every nook and corners to track down the evil doers. This is not the time to call it a day. It is just beginning. The passengers could be waiting to be saved. Do not pronounce them as dead and gone.

The hidden agenda of Abe and his revisionists

The revival of Japanese Imperialism and its glorious military past are top on Abe’s agenda. Abe wants to lead Japan to become a major world power like Hitler did to Germany. Japanese nationalism, militarism and imperialism are all the cards Abe has been playing with. But this is not all.

Japan has a willing partner in the Americans who would want to continue to be the unchallenged superpower in the world. By playing up the fear of China, by provoking China to react, to become more assertive to reclaim its territories, Abe is dragging the Americans by the nose. The Americans have no choice but to go along. And it makes a lot of sense for the Americans to be supporting a second rate power to oppose and contain China. Japan could do anything it wants to irritate and agitate China and any reactions by China would be pleasing news and excuses to exaggerate the threat of China to its neighbours. China is expansionist, China is expanding its military expenditure, China is getting more assertive, China is going to swallow up all its neighbours. What else is new?

It was all very convenient and expedient for the Americans to play the backbencher to cheer the Japanese on and to carry the big stick to keep China in check. So thought the Americans, that they could have the cake and eat it too, with the Japanese doing all the banging and screaming and the Americans standing behind like the guardian angel.

Japan cannot expect to be a superpower in the league of the US and China. It is just too small to compete with the two giants. This is not the 19^th or 20^th Centuries when a small country could rule half the world with technology when other countries were underdeveloped, weak and disorganised. How then could Japan achieve super power status in the ranks of the US and China, and if better, surpass the two giants? What is up Abe’s sleeves?

Now, would it be nice if the US is made to take on China in an all out war? All Japan needs to do is to keep provoking the Chinese and when the latter retaliate, runs back to the Americans for help and get the Americans in direct confrontation with China. It is like killing two birds with one stone with the two giants not knowing how they ended up in an all out war destroying each other. It would also in a way avenge the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by destroying the American military and economic might as well as that of China.

When these two giants went into a head on collision, none is going to come out alive, at best half dead. Who would be the victor, the next Number One superpower, when the US and China were spent force? Are the Americans seeing the big picture? Hopefully. Hopefully their Asian pivot is only rhetoric and the Americans would not be deceived into an open warfare with China and fall into the Japanese trap.

Can Abe fix Obama and the Americans to court self destruction and reap the reward to become the next Number One super power?

Kopi Level - Red

Chee Soon Juan - A time to Chee

How shall I write a piece on Chee Soon Juan without being seen as biased, partial or stereotyping or unthinking? If I say he is good, some quarters would be frowning. If I say he is NG, would I be doing justice to this man?

Everyone has an impression on Chee Soon Juan, mostly negative. The reason, they read the media and listen to the official news. Has there been anything written or spoken on Chee Soon Juan that is good or fair comment on this man? People who made a judgement on a person like Chee based on what they read about him in the media must seriously do some thinking and ask themselves what really happened and was he that bad a guy? And there are many questions to be asked as to why he has such a bad public image for so long, as an aspiring politician. He is so brash, he is so disrespectful, he is…. but that was 20 years ago.

Look across the causeway and look at Anwar Ibrahim. This one was imprisoned, tarred and feathered, charged for sodomy and all the hideous things that his political opponents could think of to fix him. The big difference, though some of the charges were really very serious, is that the Malaysian public are more sophisticated than the daft Sinkies. They do not believe everything that is published in the media and definitely would not believe the bad things the politicians said about Anwar. They are thinking and will challenge the official truth. They believe that those who cast stones at Anwar were many times worst than Anwar. Do the Sinkies bother to think and challenge the official truth on what Chee Soon Juan is all about?

Historically, many politicians found themselves on the wrong side of the political equation and were condemned or imprisoned for political crimes or for being politically incorrect. We have many that were detained for half of their lives without trial. Were they really bad people or simply politicians of the wrong camp? And there were many infamous personalities that have to seek the safety of foreign shores, never to return home.

On the international scene, there are great names like Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi and Deng Xiaoping. All were once on the wrong side of the political divide. They came back, rehabilitated, and rose to become very good leaders in their countries. If the opportunities were not given to these politicians, they would have ended in the dark corners of history, might even die in prison, for political crimes or just being on the wrong side.

Are Sinkies wise enough, mature enough, to do their own thinking, to make their own judgement on what is a good man or a bad person? Chee Soon Juan is definitely not an immortal, but an ordinary man. He would have all the flaws like you and me. Only immortals are flawless, mind you. All men have flaws, only discovered or exposed or the time is not ripe yet. Do not take anyone at face value. Do not make a judgement on another man by what others make out of him. Do your own thinking, and it is very easy. Scrutinise the facts, the intents and the truths imposed on your thinking. Be a bit cynical and critical and be a bit smart for your own good.

Is Chee Soon Juan what he is made out to be? Would he make a good politician to serve the people, speak up and stand up for the people? A good politician is one that serves your interest, not his own interest, not one that ignores your interest. A good politician is one that listens to you, not to himself.

Is it time for Chee? Is there room in Parliament for Chee?

Kopi Level - Red