The chances of Singapore repeating what it achieved in the last 50 years are zero.

This was what Kishore said in his article last Saturday, and a forumer by the name of Yeoh refuted this in the ST yesterday. In Yeoh’s view, Singapore is just beginning and there are many more good years to come, and Singapore will only get better.
 
I must disappoint Kishore and agree with Yeoh on this. Singapore can only get better with the Gov’t’s policy of meritocracy and bringing all the best talents in the world to be here. In the last 50 years we achieved with no talent or daft Sinkies to become a first world country. Now, with the Govt opening the door to all the talents, how can we do worse than before?
 
Is Kishore saying that this open door prostitution is bad and a wrong policy? Is he saying that all the foreign talents we brought in will only make Singapore worse than before? Cannot be, right? With so many talents here, especially the best from the 3rd World, hungry and willing to work harder, and are bragging how good they are and how they sacrificed for coming here to help us and not their motherland, Singapore can only prosper and get better, in leaps and bounds. Even if we don’t have faith in these fake or funny talents, surely we must have 100% faith in our super talents paid in millions to bring us up another level right?
 
Unless Kishore knows something, that these talents are fake talents, useless bums that would only bring us down, then I can agree with him. There is really no future with so many fakes here, or is there?
Who is right? What do you think?

Kopi Level - Green

China bashing and US arse kissing

A Pew survey takes the honour of Today’s front page to accentuate the fear of China by Asian countries. China is branded as the most feared country to start a war in the South China Sea, a war that may not happen for the next one hundred years if the US does not provoke, support and incite other puny countries to have a go at China, attempting to claim China’s islets. And no one bothers about all the wars that the US had started and fought in Asia and the Middle East. And no one bothers about the bombing by the Israelis against the Palestinians but about a prefabricated nightmare the West cooked up to frighten the Asian countries about China. Had China started a war and fought a war of invasion against any country since 1949 or since Genghis Khan ruled China?
 
And while China is painted by the West as the demon to be and the threat to peace, what is the perception of the US by the Asians? Our top thinker, Asia’s foremost and recognized thinker, Mahbubani, wrote an article in the ST in praise of the wholesome goodness of the Americans. I quote,
 
‘The first lesson is the folly of good intentions. Let’s be clear about one thing: Americans are not evil people. They do not conquer countries to rape, pillage and loot. Instead, they conquer countries to help the people.’ I am sure Mahbubani really, sincerely, believes in what he said about the good Americans’ good intention. He did not know that the Americans and the British fabricated the story of WMD, a total myth to be used as an excuse to invade Iraq, to kill Saddam Hussein with good intention. I must forgive him for not reading the newspapers. But he knew something about the war, and I quote again,
 
‘The US spent US$4 trillion, lost thousands of American lives and millions of Iraqi lives …. .‘ So much for American goodness and good intentions. Killing millions of Iraqis on a lie is good. I hope they don’t teach our children about such goodness and good intention. NLB must check and remove books that agree with this kind of goodness.
 
And in the concluding paragraph of his article he said this, ‘America should get out of the business of invasion and occupation. Four decades of failure have provided enough evidence to prove that the American people are far too good to do this job.’
 
My goodness, if the top thinker in Asia thinks like that, and he wrote a book, I think, questioning whether Asians can think, what about the rest of unthinking Asians? I think they must be praying to have wet dreams sleeping with the Americans and enjoying every moment of it in the warm caress of the Americans, in bed.
 
How could a country that treated everyone else as a nail and keep hammering everyone with a hammer, for four decades, be a country of good people with good intentions? Is there a word ‘bad or evil’ in Mahbubani’s or the Asian’s vocabulary for the Americans? Everything about the Americans is about wholesome goodness and good intentions even when they incited wars, provoked wars, engaged in wars and in the killing of millions of Asians. Good intention!
 
And China is the bad guy, the monster waiting to start a war that may not even happen! The American arse must smell damn good, all wholesome goodness.

When evil is goodness!

Kopi Level - Green

CPF – Monthly protest rally at Hong Lim

Han Hui Hui and Roy Ngerng will be holding monthly protest rally at the Hong Lim Park on the CPF issues. One immediate problem that comes to mind is their ability to continue to attract the number of people to Hong Lim on a sustained basis. Last Saturday’s rally was a test case for the people’s willingness to keep going to Hong Lim to show their support for Hui Hui and Roy and the return of their CPF money. It was tentative and could have been a big disappointment if only 200 people turned up. The possibility was there given the fact that it came so close to the last protest and with so little publicity on the event. It turned out that the crowd was there to keep the fire burning.
 
From past experience, it has been proven that Sinkies would kpkb for a while and would soon lose interests in whatever they were unhappy about and the whole thing was forgotten with time. There was no follow up and all issues died a natural death. Would this CPF issue die a natural death like everything else? Would the people persist with greater tenacity to keep the issue and pressure on the govt to make changes to the scheme? If the support for the protest rally dies off, then all things will return to normal. And the govt will know that Hong Lim Speakers Corner had served its wonderful role, to let the people let out steam and the temperature will cool down as expected.
 
23 Aug for the next protest rally is just a short while away. Hui Hui and Roy are following the practice of biting and not letting go, like a rotweiller. It is like taking a bite and sinking the teeth in. Saying sorry is not enough, must also explain. Keeping rubbing in, keep repeating to put the victim under pressure. This is how to keep an issue alive. Not following through, a couple of kpkb sessions, will not achieve any results.
 
So, would Hui Hui and Roy’s new approach, to keep pounding the road, keep hammering on the issue, to keep it alive, work? It may if they can gather enough crowd to be at Hong Lim. It may if the people do not get tired and start to give Hong Lim a miss when the protest rally is on. How long would Hui Hui and Roy be able to keep the flame burning? It is not easy even if an issue like CPF touches everyone’s pocket where it hurts.
 
Would the daft Sinkies behave differently this time and would also bite in and refuse to let go, and keep coming back to Hong Lim to kpkb every month?

Kopi Level - Green

IF HDB owns the HDB flat and the land it sits on.

‘IF HDB owns the HDB flat and the land it sits on.
When we "buy" our HDB flats.
Why do we pay for cost of land+cost of construction?’
 
This phrase was posted by an anonymous blogger as a comment in my blog. Does this ring a bell? All HDB dwellers bought a 99 year lease on the flat from HDB at a price that the govt said is very affordable. Affordable means how much one can afford to pay and does not take into consideration the real value of the flat or the cost of building it. The affordable concept is all about how much the buyer has in his pocket, or in his CPF.
 
How is the price computed and what is the cost of building the flat is TOP SECRET, guarded closely by the govt. After years of barraging the govt, all the people got was a stone wall. The govt that prides itself for transparency and demanding everyone to be transparent would not be transparent on the cost of building a flat. Any hypocrisy?
 
The govt has also finally admitted in Parliament that at the end of 99 years, the flat will go back to the govt as it is on a lease. The question is whether the price of the flat, the lease, consists of the lease for use of the flat and the lease on the land it sits? If this includes the lease of the land, then how is this price? Is it based on the sale of the land for 99 years or the lease of the land for 99 years?
 
And as rightly pointed out by many, if the lease of the HDB flat is for the use of the flat, why are the lessee made to pay property tax, made to pay for maintenance and upgrading of a property that does not belong to them? If the property is run down, shouldn’t the owner of the property and the land be the one to pay for its refurbishing? Windows falling off, ceiling leaking etc, whose responsibility?
 
There are many issues to be addressed, who owns the land, who owns the flat, who is supposed to pay for property tax, who is supposed to pay for refurbishing and upgrading of the property and its surrounding?
Who is the real owner? Would the MPs ask these questions in Parliament and would the govt admit that it is the actual owner of the land and the flat?

Kopi Level - Green

There is a need to protect some trades and professions for citizens

The need for FWs in the construction industry and some harsh vocations is recognized by the govt and the citizens. No one is complaining about hiring foreigners to take up jobs that citizens shunned. Hiring of foreign workers in these jobs has become a necessity and not a choice.
 
On the other hand there are many jobs that Singaporeans would want to do, not highly skilled but could provide them with decent incoming. These jobs do not need ‘foreign talents’ to compete with the citizens. The profession of taxi driving is an area of last resort, the fall back position of many PMEs to earn a decent living. This has been in a way protected for citizens. Is there a change that foreigners are now allowed to be taxi drivers? Foreigners turned citizens to become taxi drivers cannot be of any talent, and cannot be of better than Singaporeans to replace Singaporeans. It would be dreadful and shocking that one day foreigners are preferred to Singaporeans to be taxi drivers because they are more talented. Would that day come?
 
There are foreigners, citizens and PRs, engaging in many professions that Singaporeans are quite happy to be in without the need to be terribly talented and highly qualified. Entry barrier to these trades are fairly low, eg insurance agents, housing agents, recruitment agents and stock broking agents. Should the govt allow free access to these trades by foreigners? What kind of expertise and extra talents or contributions would foreigners bring in to add value to these professions? There is really no need to allow foreigners to be in these trades. What is the point of having PhDs and masters graduates to be in these trades to compete with the citizens?
 
When would the govt have a change of heart, a change of policies to protect some trades for the citizens? When would the prostitute mindset be changed? Opening these trades to foreigners, even new citizens, is a threat to the quality of life of Singaporeans and cannot be allowed if the interests of the citizens is to be protected. Opening our economy and country cannot be a blank cheque to open up everything, and stripping off our panties. Some vital parts must be protected from uninvited intrusion to retain some dignity and self respect.
 
No entry signs must be erected in some areas. There are things that are sensitive in nature, critical and important to the average citizens and cannot be given away freely without affecting their lives. The govt has no obligations to provide good jobs and vocations to foreigners, but owe a big responsibility to make life better for the citizens. Or am I wrong, that this govt owes the citizens of the world good jobs and a good life, not to its citizens?
 
When would the policy makers descend from the high clouds to understand what is going on at ground level?

Kopi Level - Green