8/19/2014

The bad Arab leaders…So said the Americans and the West

Muhammar Gaddafi, Hosni Mubarak and Saddam Hussein were all gone. Gaddafi and Saddam were dead and so were many of their family members. The next bad Middle Eastern leader on the chopping block is Bashar Al Assad. He could have gone the same way as the three if Putin had not put his foot down and said no to the Americans and the West.

In many ways these dictators were bad in the perspective of the West. It was good that they should be replaced by less dictatorial and less powerful leaders. Now that they had been replaced, what is happening to their countries? Are the Libyans, Egyptians and Iraqis living a better life? Are their lives better now than during the times of the dictators?

The UN has just passed a resolution to save the minorities in Iraq from being massacred by another group of Iraqis, the ISIS. The Americans have resumed bombing in the country. Libya and Egypt are in turmoil and in a state of civil war and social unrest. The Americans can now march in like the angels from heaven to save them and their countries. The Americans and the West are blowing their trumpets about how bad the situations are and how good it is for their return to rule these people, to help them rebuild their countries and their lives. But first thing, the most important thing, is to rearm them so that they could fight and kill each other and lay their countries in ruins. The Americans and the West are the saviours and these countries have again become the White man’s burden.

These countries will be in for a long stretch of disorder, fighting and killings and without an economy. They will live a life without peace and needing the help of the western angels that came offering more arms, plus food supplies of course.

Is there a bigger scheme of things, to create a perpetual state of strife, of war and unrest in the Middle East, to keep the Arab people busy fighting and dying, and not able to thrive in peace and with functioning govts and economies? Who would benefit most when these people are made to fight and kill themselves and destroy their countries and economies?

Gaddafi, Mubarak and Saddam were bad leaders, and so is Assad. But with them in charge, at least there were law and order and peace, and the people could go to work, children could go to schools and life was fairly normal for the majority of these people. Syria better pray that Assad is not killed or their fate will be similar to those in Iraq, Egypt and Libya.

There is no need for more angels and saviours if there were no monsters coming in to help the Arabs destroy their countries and to murder their leaders. Cheers to the Americans and the West for their generosities and compassion to come to the aid of the Arabs who could not live in peace among themselves. Aren’t the Arabs lucky, aren’t they grateful and thankful to the Americans and the Western powers for the happy state they are in now?


Kopi Level - Blue. Thank you.

The people are listening, is the govt listening?


More than 170 comments were made in a thread on Hsien Loong’s NDR speech. And there were more than one such thread discussing his speech. It only says that many Singaporeans are listening to him and wanting to know what is he going to do to improve their lives. The govt cannot dismiss the people as not interested in the affairs of the state or not willing to listen to the govt. it is a good sign, but would it be a wasted opportunity. When the people are listening, there is hope. The bad part will be when the people stops listening to the govt, switching off the TV when Hsien Loong speaks to the people.
 

The people are listening. The people are willing to listen. Is the govt listening to the people? Or is the govt still adopting the deaf frog attitude, or acting as half deaf, selective listening, listening to what it wants to listen?
There were tweaks on the CPF. How many of the tweaks are addressing to the problems the people have raised through Roy Ngerng and his crusaders? Shall the people thank Roy and his fellow men or to thank Hsien Loong and his wise men for the tweaks?
 

It would be such a waste when so many non believers are listening and could not be convinced. But it is also a fact that today’s non believers are not daft and could not be easily convinced. You really need convincing arguments and truths to win them over.
 

Were the tweaks on the CPF enough to win some of the critics over to the side of the PAP? Were the Pioneer Package and the CHAS card good enough? Some think the formula of discounts and subsidies has lost its meaning when the prices of goods and services have been raised so many times and a little discount is actually meaningless, a case of LPPL or worse. So, would this NDR make any real difference to the fate of the Party in the next GE? Has it narrow down the divide of a fractious family?

Kopi Level - Blue. Thank you.

Chok Tong: People and govt are family

The people and the govt must be closed like a family, taking care of each other and looking out for each other. This is as much as what Chok Tong was saying. The rest of what he said in his constituency’s National Day dinner was gibberish, ‘mao dun’, as he only saw the symptoms of a fractious family but not wanting to know the causes. He even attributed this to the people criticising the govt and their unreasonable demand as the major causes of this divide between people and govt. Really? What was he smoking?

He added that the govt must also be compassionate to be worthy of its citizens, to listen and engage the citizens, if not it would not be a family. Did the govt do that? Or what the govt had been doing all these years? It needs two hands to clap. Gone were the days when it is all a one sided love affair. The govt could do anything it wanted and claimed that everything was good for the people, everything was fine. And the govt could claim credit by saying, ‘see, no public demonstration, so the people are happy and supporting the govt and its policies’. What a clever reasoning, when demonstration is banned and 4 is illegal assembly.

And there were no social media to talk about the negative aspects of policies and what the people were unhappy about. The main media were only saying the good stuff. And if they were occasions when some complaints were heard, they were ignored. Or like the burning of an MP, it must be the fault of the other party, never the fault of the govt.

The divide between govt and people has been growing and widening but mostly ignored. The losing of a GRC, the by elections and the Presidential Election were all clear signals of a growing divide. Did the govt take heed? If there were no social media to speak of the divide, the govt would still not see any divide. No complaints heard means no problem.

What are the causes of the divide between people and govt? Big income gap was claimed to be normal, foreigners replacing Singaporeans in jobs is necessary, in universities, in sports, in getting scholarships, etc etc, were these caused by the people? Who imported foreigners to replace citizens in good jobs, in university places? Or these divides were not important, it is all due to the criticisms of the govt when it made the slightest mistakes?

What about the cost of living, high property prices, and the people’s CPF savings? And didn’t the govt hear of the saying that one can die but cannot get sick?Are the citizens guilty of unreasonable criticisms of the govt, or there were really nothing worthy or deserving of the citizens to criticise the govt?

During Chok Tong’s time there appeared to be no divide but not necessarily no divide.
The unhappiness and disapproval of the govt were just not spoken, no avenue to air them. Hot topics like the absurd high property prices that the govt insisted were affordable were simply brushed aside. Now we can see how this emptied the savings of the people. Or perhaps the divide was not that serious then.

It is so easy to blame the people for criticising the govt as the problem. The people cannot anyhow criticise the govt without good reasons and would not criticise the govt without good reasons. The govt can continue to blame the people and ignore their grievances. It is the people that were at fault. Period. So cramping down on public criticisms, on social media, could be the answer and the divide will go away.

Just keep bringing in the god sons, adopted sons, the foster sons and sons of other people to replace the sons of Singapore and see what would happen to the Singapore family. If the parents can disown the children, (did he say the govt was caring and creating jobs for the children?) the children can disown the parents as well.

The relationship is not one sided, where the govt can behave like deaf frog and do what it thinks is right, ignoring the people and their objections. The arrogance of the govt to think what it does is right and good for the people, even when the people voiced out to object, cannot be good for govt people relationship. Or can it?


Kopi Level - Blue. Thank you

8/18/2014

A simple CPF question


How many people died without touching their CPF savings? Or how many people saved for a life time but never benefit from this saving to live for a day when they could feel relieve that it is time to enjoy their life long savings, to fantasise for a day of plenty?
 

Or how many people only could smile but die without really be happy spending their money after a life time saving it?

This is simply hideous.

Kopi Level - Yellow

There was a time when a degree meant so much


There was a time when a graduate could aspire to be a manager or a senior civil servant, as one of the elites. Today, our graduates can aspire to be a fast food stall manager, but mostly as salesmen, or even temp staff, hopping from one job to another on a needs basis. And he is expected to commit to a 30 year mortgage for a home, get married and make babies.
 

What is the point of having so many universities producing so many graduates but could not find a decent job even at mid management level? And it is not that there are no jobs available. We have half a million foreign PMEs here which translate to half a million middle management jobs that could be given to our graduates. Why not? Why do we have to import foreigners, many are the average joe or street punks with questionable paper qualifications and our graduates are not gainfully or justifiably employed in full time jobs?
 

We do not need a single foreign PME more as long as one of our graduates is half employed or unemployed. We need to give jobs to our graduates to put food on the table. Now someone is asking why is there a divide between govt and people, a distrust, and the people losing faith in the govt?
 

When the govt thinks it is its duty to employ foreigners than citizens, that it is ok to employ foreigner and does not bother if our graduates are losing their jobs, the govt has lost its way, has lost its mandate to be the govt. The govt must be for the citizens first. If the govt does not think so, don’t expect the people to respect the govt and want to be ruled by such a govt. It is elementary, Watson. No need to crack your head to understand why. If you have to do that and still cannot understand why, you don’t deserve to be the govt.

Kopi Level - Yellow