The Poll now stands at 42 support, 19 despise and 46 condemn. Total 107

The Poll now stands at 42 support, 19 despise and 46 condemn. Total 107

42 people have voted in support of  what 'Sneaky Raymond and his despicable masters' are doing here, to hide under anonymity to engage in personal attacks. 19 have voted to despise them and 46 condemn what they are doing. So far we have about 40% of people thinking that such acts are fair and worthy of support.

5 more days to go to show the values and thinking of Singaporeans on such vile acts.

What is going to happen to community events and community living?

Roy Ngerng and Han Hui Hui will be charged in court for the following:
 
The Police is charging the six of them for “disrupt(ing) the YMCA event and caused annoyance to the public” and having committed the following acts:
 
1. marching around the general vicinity of the YMCA event
2. shouting loudly
3. chanting slogans
4. waving flags
5. holding placards
6. blowing whistles loudly
7. beating drums
 
If these charges are upheld, would it mean that all the community events held at void decks or public areas would become an issue? What is going to happen to weddings, funeral wakes, pasar malams, charity events, etc etc?
 
Would everyone feeling a bit annoyed or unhappy be rushing down to the neighbourhood police to make a nuisance report, to complain about the neighbours? And would the police be hauling up everyone to court to answer such complaints?
 
In a multi cultural and multi religious society like ours that is closely packed in our housing estates, when intolerance is encouraged and promoted, when people are encouraged to complain about others engaging in their activities, living together is going to be a very unfriendly and unbearable thing.

Kopi Level - Green

The silly lies of China having designs on its neighbours

Two countries, India and Vietnam, are insane in their obsession of a China invading their countries. The Americans used to cook up the menace of Yellow Peril with Chinese wading ashore on their western coast of California to occupy America. Historical facts have proven in numerous occasions that modern China since its liberation from the western yoke of colonialism has been law abiding and sticking to any unequal treaties it signed during its Century of Humiliation by the western and colonial powers.
 
The cases of Macau and Hong Kong were evidence to show that despite its ability to take over both territories way before the expiry of the unequal treaties by force, as the territories were seized from China by force, China abided by the treaties to the very day that the treaties ended to reclaim these two pieces of land.
In the period after WW2, China fought two wars with its neighbours, India and Vietnam. In both occasions China was victorious and marched into India and Vietnam only to withdraw to the original borders and maintained a status quo till today. Any ambition to expand and seize territories from neighbouring countries was proven to be fictitious.
 
And there are several neighbouring countries that were militarily weak and a walk over for China if it harbours any wild and aggressive intent, like Outer Mongolia, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, they have no border incursion by China. The borders of these countries with China have been peaceful ever since. And they have no fear or need to cry wolf that China is having designs on their land.
 
As for the Philippines’ dispute with China over the South China Sea islands, it is a one sided claim by the Philippines on Chinese territories. The Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands were Chinese territories and it is a matter of time before China take them back from Japan, either peacefully or through war. Now, this is not an expansionist policy but a reclamation of territories lost during the era of unequal treaties.
 
All the hypes by India and Vietnam are for their own political reasons. In fact both wars that China fought with these two countries were provoked by them instead.
 
This China lie of having an expansionist policy is a western construct that is being perpetuated to instil fear and for political domination of countries in the region, and for the sale of weapons to these countries to benefit the American arms merchants.

Kopi Level - Green

Chua Mui Hoong, balancing writing the right stuff and saying the good stuff

Many readers may be wondering why local journalists/reporters are so fond of writing about their dogs, the kind of underwear they used, or how they snored, and things like that. Pardon me for a bit of exaggerations. Often by writing such stuff, some may come out looking like bimbos instead of professionals. And when they tried to write something serious, they are always writing about the right stuff.
 
The question then is whether these journalists/reporters have the grey matter to be accorded the titles of journalists/reporters? Why couldn’t they write stuff like the netizens, serious, exciting and captivating, and set the mind thinking, not about dog poo and underwear?
 
Of course they are very capable and able young people who could easily outshine anyone in social media. These are the best talents trained in the best universities and with the rare skills to wield a pen like a painter’s brush or the sword of a warrior. Unfortunately they are mostly constrained by the OB markers that kept them from blossoming, writing flowery proses and critically incisive pieces on social political issues. Their expertise and talents did not have a chance to flower and to intoxicate their readers. It is so sad that so many talents have been wasted from excelling in their chosen profession. Many would have been candidates for the Pulitzer Prize if given the chance to do what they are good at, trained for, and to indulge freely, to stimulate and to inspire, and to put their readers into bewilderment and in a pleasant state of frenzy..
 
Below are some quotes from Chua Mui Hoong showing the spread of ideas she is capable of, one writing the right stuff and the other, the good stuff.
 
Chua Mui Hoong was quoted to say, “But if you were to read some of the comments online, you can see the rise of such polarised views – such as when bloggers and commenters paint the PAP as a bunch of self-serving elite people who pay themselves multi-million-dollar salaries to perpetuate a system in which they and their family members can become very rich.”
 
Was she implying that this is a myth? Read the Parliamentary Pensions Act to decide for yourself whether it is a myth or a ‘real’ fantasy.
 
4(2) The annual amount of pension payable to an office-holding Member shall be —
(a) in respect of every completed year of reckonable service in any office, or where he has served in more than one office in each office, at the rate of one-twenty-seventh (1/27) of his annual salary in that office; and

(b) in respect of any remaining uncompleted year of reckonable service in any office, or where he has served in more than one office in each office, at the rate of one-three-hundred and twenty-fourth (1/324) part of his annual salary for each completed month of reckonable service in that office.

(2A) The annual pension payable to any office-holding Member under subsection (2) shall not exceed two-thirds of the highest annual salary of any office held by him.

(3) Subject to sections 13 and 15, a pension granted under this section shall continue for the life of the person to whom it is payable but shall not be payable in respect of any period during which he is again an office-holding Member; at the end of that period the pension shall again be payable and shall be re-computed with the addition of that period to the period of his former reckonable service as an office-holding Member.

(4) For the purposes of subsections (2) and (2A), “annual salary”, in relation to any office, means the annual equivalent of the highest monthly rate of salary (excluding any non-pensionable allowances) received by an office-holding Member during any period of reckonable service as a holder of that office.
 
Also, The Act says that the pension can be commutated. This means that can be paid in 1 lump sum instead of monthly payments for life. The lump sum is equivalent to 175.14 months of pension, i.e. 14.6 years of pension. It doesn't matter that the minister asks for it because he has terminal cancer and has 3 months to live. He will get 14.6 years of pension paid to him in 1 go, and it will be tax free.
 
Now look at the other side of Chua Mui Hoong. This was what she wrote:
 
“A good government first needs to create the conditions for business to flourish. Then it needs to spend and redistribute the wealth created to maintain harmony and fairness in a society, to enhance citizens’ well-being. Doing the latter is not being populist.”:
 
• Spending money to ensure universal health coverage is not populist but just a responsible thing to do for “any decent, humane government”
• Helping the jobless and underemployed get back into the job marketplace via wage subsidies and training is not populist but just good old common sense to get people back onto their feet
• Spending on early childhood education to help poor children do well in school is not populist but just good investment in kids’ futures
 
“If a government has rich state coffers, but its people feel stressed and anxious at every stage of their lives, it cannot be a good government,” she said.
 
It would be nice to give Chua Mui Hoong a free hand to write what she thinks and what she really feels, the good stuff from a talented journalist. Maybe she is already writing what she feels and thinks and no one is preventing her from writing her stuff. Han Fook Kwang has lately been writing things from his own thoughts and perspective, giving a more balanced picture of what the reality is. What would Chua Mui Hoong be writing, like Han Fook Kwang, writing in her true self and showing the flair of what true and good journalism could be? And this applies to practically all the journalists and reporters. Would they be unmuzzled to write freely in the likes of Berstein and Woodward, and to raise the quality of our main stream media to a higher level and spare the readers for paying good money from reading the mundane and mediocrity? I don’t believe we are seeing the best of them yet. They are made of better stuff.
 
Set them free, give them dignity - Redbean

Kopi Level - Green

How to stop gamblers gambling?

I think there is an institution doing this, educating people not to gamble or if they gamble, helping them with their gambling problems. But it seems that they are not very effective. If what I read is true, there was an article posted in TRE claiming that a Town Council has found the perfect and most effective solution. The article from The Alternative View said, ‘Town Council removes stone tables at Circuit Road void decks to “stop” illegal gambling.’ It also posted a photo of the concrete chairs and tables at the void deck completely demolished. If this was a hoax, please correct me. But it seemed genuine.
 
Hehehheh, now I am staring at the Marina Bay Casino. And a bright idea comes up ala the Town Council solution to gambling. Will it happen?
 
Actually I have a better solution. No need to waste money destroying the concrete table and stools at the void deck. A simple solution would be to glue some nails on the stools so that the gamblers would have a painful time sitting on them. The solution is cheaper and the table and stools need not be destroyed. See, clever or not? This is not a million dollar solution ok. I no super talent.
 
But more seriously, just place a few cards on the table telling the gamblers that they could gamble in cool comfort in the two classy casinos, why sweat under the void deck right? The only thing that is keeping the gamblers away from the casinos must be the entrance fee. Just make it cheaper or free and they will not be found again creating a nuisance at void decks and the residents will also be very happy too.
 
What is the point of having not one but two casinos? For people to gamble right?
 
What do you think? Can or not?

Kopi Level - Yellow