The Western wolf pack gnarling at Putin

Shooting down a civilian aircraft and killing so many innocent people is simply unacceptable, bad. 298 passengers and crew died for nothing and someone must pay for this crime. Practically all the European leaders, including Australia, are up in arms with fingers pointing in the eyes of Vladimir Putin. Guilty! And there is Australia’s Tony Abbott jumping the gun again, making a guilty comment on the Russians without needing any confirmation of evidence.
 
More sanctions will be up against the Russians. Of course, if guilty, the Russians deserve it. They deserve world condemnation, not only from the Western powers.
 
How many million Iraqis, innocent civilians were killed by the fake invasion of Iraq on WMD charges? David Cameron is thumping down the Russians, telling the Russians, shooting down the M17 was unacceptable. Did his predecessor say anything about faking a lie to invade a country and killing millions of the innocent civilians as unacceptable? Oh, he couldn’t. He was part of the party that made the decision and invaded Iraq. Did any Western power condemn the invasion of Iraq as crimes against humanity?
 
They are going to charge Putin for crimes against humanity. No, I am not defending the Russians or Putin. They need to answer for this crime if they are guilty. Is there anyone, any Western power, standing up to point a finger at George Bush and Tony Blair for crimes against humanity for the millions of Iraqis killed and wounded. No, it was not a war. It was a framed lie to invade a country. Only Mahathir has the decency to call a spade a spade.
 
Hypocrisy? Anyone say hypocrisy? Wait till they nominate George Bush and Tony Blair for the Nobel Peace Prize for the peace they brought to Iraq.

Kopi Level - Green

President Jokowi

I always find him a lighter version of Obama. Don’t you people think he looks like Obama? Now we have two presidents with Indonesian connections.
 
The election of Jokowi as the new President of Indonesia is the continuation of a winning streak for the country since Gus Dur. Indonesia has enjoyed the blessing of the last few presidents who were more progressive, economy driven and honourable. Yudhoyono has done very well to keep the Indonesia polity and economy on an even keel and growing in peace and stability. This election would be very different without Yudhoyono’s calming and firm hands to ensure that no dirty business was allowed to spoil the party. This is Yudhoyono’s greatest legacy in an election that started with a big dark cloud hanger in the air. Many bad and ugly things could happen and Jokowi would be in no position to do anything but to face defeat.
 
As I said earlier, when a country is blessed to do well, good men and women would step forward to lead the country. If Jokowi had lost, Indonesia would be in for a tough time, and so would be the stability of the region. Indonesia could see any term of progressive govt and policies instead of politicking and frauds.
 
Look at China and the USA. China too is blessed with a continuous string of good men and women at the helm and is growing richer by the days. China would be in deep shit if Bo Xi Lai and his gang would to be in charge today instead of Xi Jinping. On the other hand the USA is blessed with some clowns in the Presidency and teams of evil men and women till today. And the USA is going down, unstoppable. And looks like it is going to get worse with Hillary Clinton flirting to be the next President and the Americans love her. The USA deserves Hillary to bring an end to Pax Americana. That is the fate of the Americans.
 
When countries are to do well, good men and women would appear. On the contrary, when a country is on the decline, average men and women and rascals will take over the rein to hasten the fall.
 
Indonesia is lucky to have President Jokowi and a new team in charge, a clean slate not tarnish or implicated by historical baggages.

Kopi Level - Yellow

CPF savings backed by Govt’s substantial assets

This is what Tharman said about your CPF savings, ‘Singaporeans who wonder if their CPF monies are safe can rest assured, because their CPF savings are backed by a govt that has substantial assets in excess of its liabilities’. In the same line of thinking, the Americans need not worry about the debts they owed to the whole world as they are backed by substantial assets in excess of their liabilities, ie the land from LA to New York and Chicago to Houston.. When forced to pay up, they could sell their aircraft carriers and their nuclear arsenals. Or they could sell the Rocky Mountains as well. Similarly the Greece govt needs not file for bankruptcy. They could sell their islands, the ancient ruins and whatever.
 
Are we supposed to feel assured by this kind of statements and this kind of asset backings? Would we be comfortable if the CPF money is gone and the govt starts to patch up the holes by selling the power stations, the heritage sites, SIA, DBS etc etc if the Net Investment Returns Contribution(NIRC) is not enough. Oops, I forgot, we have many billions or trillions of reserves to take on the first charge.
 
OK, OK, now I am feeling quite assured. At worst, just sell a few islands or the whole island. But this is hardly possible as it is impossible to lose so much that we need to sell the whole country right? We have so many valuable assets to sell just in case. Our CPF have a lot of assets to back it up, very very safe.
 
What do you think? Safe or not?

Kopi Level - Yellow

CPF is not just a game

Chuan Jin used the analogy of a game to describe what is happening to the CPF scheme at the CPF Forum organized by the Institute of Policy Studies. He was referring to the changing conditions and said that the rules of the game had changed, conditions had changed. The CPF scheme is not about a game but about the people’s life savings for retirement. The govt must get this straight and not to confuse with govt pension schemes where the fund comes from the public coffer. The govt can change all the rules of a pension scheme, no one will care or object to it. The money in the CPF scheme comes from the pocket of the people, saving for their retirement. Please don’t suka suka change the rules without the people’s consent.
 
The compulsion to save in the first part of the people’s life, up to 55 years old, is a necessary evil. The second part or the next phase must be the return of the money to the savers. It is as simple as that. The govt has no moral right to keep the people’s money at its own pleasure. Legislating it to be legal is still not right. Taking this further, the govt might as well legislate the savings of the people in the banks, like in Greece and take a portion of it?
 
Put it simply, the money must be returned to the people at 55. Period. Given the changing circumstances and life expectancy, the younger generations may have to relook at what is a reasonable age to take back their savings. For those in their 50s and above, they should be taking back all their savings at 55. The good hearted govt can think of ways to design favourable and attractive schemes like annuity plans, or savings plans with higher interest rates to entice the people to leave their money in such schemes, VOLUNTARILY, after 55. The people must be allowed to exercise their choice on what they want to do with their money, NOT the govt’s money. This is basic human decency! Can the boys and girls understand this?
 
No more funny schemes to retain the money in the CPF compulsorily because the boys and girls said so. The govt can no longer treat the people as daft peasants of the 3rd world, unthinking, irresponsible with their money and helpless. The people are well educated, well informed and definitely not daft, definitely smarter than many of the policy makers.
 
And what is this thing that people must keep on contributing to their CPF regardless of how old they are when they have to apply or renew their licences? After certain age, it is time to take out the savings, time to stop savings for tomorrow that can really be the next day or the next hour. For those who have a lot of money, they can go on and on saving even if they are 100 years old. Those are different kind of people.
 
What say you, boys and girls?

Kopi Level - Green

SIA no longer the best airline

For so many years we have taken for granted that SIA was the best airline in the world. The latest result, SIA was not first, not second, but third best in the world. No panic, it is just one of those things. We cannot always be number One right?
 
We are slowly getting accustomed to the new normal, to be not the best, to accept errors, almost daily breakdowns of public transports as the new normal. No longer were the days when the CEOs would wet their pants when things went wrong. Would there be worrying faces among the top management in SIA or among the political leaders? Don’t think so.
 
I think there is no need to worry too. We just need to bring in more foreign talents into SIA and we will be back to number One spot soon. The problem with SIA now must be the lack of foreign talents and Singapore Girls no longer motivated to join SIA. Our Singapore Girls were once unbeatable in their graces and service. What is happening?
 
We need the foreign talents to uplift SIA and teach our local girls how to serve well and regain the top spot as the number One airline in the world. Maybe never mind, getting tired of being number One.

Kopi Leveln - Green