The drumming to build smart cities in India continues unabated. India,
with all its talents, needs Singapore to build smart cities for them?
India is only interested in flying to Mars, building more nuclear
submarines to be the next super power. It has no time to want to build
good housing and toilets for its people. But, just like going to Mars,
it wants to leapfrog the process to build smart cities beside the
streets of shits everywhere. Who is going to live in the smart cities by
the way when all over are poverty and illiterates that did not even
have the privilege of shitting in a proper shit hole?
As a commercial project, I think it is a good idea for our businesses to
make their assessments and do the sums before putting the money in such
grandiose schemes. But we should be very careful when putting public
money into such schemes. We must have learnt a lesson or two in Suzhou
to not want to throw our people’s money into a bottomless pit to please
some foreign govts and make some people happy that they have initiated
some grand projects using OPM without hurting their own pockets.
What is it that India lacks that we can provide that it doesn’t have?
Money, plenty of money, but whose money? My money or your money? I would
encourage the businessmen to do what they think is profitable and to
risk their own money if things go wrong against their judgement. But
please, don’t use public money to invest in something to look like
Orchard Road in a shit hole. It is more responsible to return the money
to the people who needed the money to live and to clear their financial
troubles, to live a day better and not be insulted by people asking them
whether they want to eat in hawker centre, food court or restaurant.
Any hero or philanthropist who wants to go and build smart cities for
India, please use your own money. Please do not use the people’s blood
and sweat money to paste on your face. I also want to build good homes
for the whole world with OPM of course.
Kopi Level - Green
12/04/2014
12/03/2014
Currency exchange $1 to $3
Half a century ago the exchange rate for S$ to US$ was $3 to US$1. Today it is S$1.30 to US$1. Not bad huh. The same period half a century ago, S$ to ringgit was 1:1. Today, there is a long queue at the money changer to buy ringgits using S$. The rate is S$1 to Ringgit2.625.
When the rate was S$1 to Ringgit 2.5, it was like a windfall for Singaporeans visiting Malaysia. With today’s rate, the Malaysians working here are getting a pay rise when they convert to Ringgits without have to do anything.
Oil is the only godsend asset that Malaysia can boot about, and can sneer at the non Malays for depending on gambling and prostitution to make a living. Don’t even have to work, just get machine to pump from the ground or under the sea. See how blessed they are, Malaysia is getting money just like that. Now with the falling oil prices, and expecting to go lower, an exchange rate of 1:3 is quite possible in the foreseeable future.
The only lucky draw for the non Malays is the good fortune of those working in Singapore. Don’t have to depend on oil, prostitution and gambling. Just hope that the oil price keeps falling and the exchange rate be in their favour, they can also get richer without having to work that much harder.
Singaporeans are now buying Ringgits. Some will be rushing to buy properties in Malaysia too. For the latter, good luck to them. They need a lot of good luck to protect their investments which they think are gotten at a steal.
Kopi Level - Green
Daft citizen mentality must go, not in the 21s Century
There are two aspects to this daft mentality of the people in a democratic country. On one hand, the daft masses must know their rights as citizens of a democratic country, that they are not slaves to the politicians. They are the masters and citizens of a democratic country. Can’t say this if it is a kingdom or mafiadom where the people have no choice but to elect thugs and gangsters to rule over them. In a democracy, any politician that the citizens don’t like, no matter how smart or how smug, they would be voted out, especially the arrogant ones, and those that talked cock and done nothing useful. This is what democracy is all about. The country belongs to the people and the people decide who they want to run the country every four years or whatever depending on the country concerned.
Why would citizens want to elect politicians to bully them, treat them like serfs, take control of their life savings and dictate terms to them, how to use their savings and not returning to them when they badly needed the money?
What about the mentality of the politicians? They must be reminded that they are also ordinary citizens in a democratic country. The people must remind them that they are elected to a fixed term of office, not for life, and to serve the people. Elected politicians must not think they could use public office to chart their personal career paths and how much money they could take from the public coffers, not in a democracy.
The politicians in a democracy must be told not to think that they are elected to decide what the people can say, can read, can see, and how to shut up the citizens. This is not their grandfather’s kingdom and they are not kings or royalties that can dictate to the people at their whims and fancies.
Politicians must be reminded that they should not abuse their power to make civil servants do their biddings, to brow beat the people. The civil servants are there to serve the people with pride and dignity, not the interests of political parties and politicians. The people and country’s interests come first, not the interests of the political parties. The civil servants and uniformed services must be reminded that it is their duty to serve and protect the people, to obey the constitution, the rule of law, to execute their responsibilities fairly and justly to the people without fear or prejudice.
It is so frightening to hear politicians talking so casually about how to control the people, what the people can say and cannot say, what they can read and cannot read as if it is their God damn right to do so. It is very frightening to imagine that politicians can abuse the civil servants, the uniformed services to serve their private interests and agenda, even against the people in a democracy.
How can the people of a democratic country allow this to happen? The ignorant and subservient citizens must stand up and say no to rogue politicians that behaved like gangsters and mafias to bully the people. This is not what a democracy should be, this is not democracy. In a democracy, the politicians listen to the people and serve the people, not the other way.
What kind of democracy do the people want? What kind of daft mentality is it that a people would vote politicians to rule over them and to screw them left and right, and they cannot do anything about it, and fearing every moment of their lives what the politicians will do next to them? What kind of people will do such things in a democratic election? What kind of mentality is it that a people fear the politicians, the same ordinary people they elected to represent them in Parliament and to form the govt?
The above is a generalization of how a stupid people in any supposedly democratic country could behave and how they could be ruled by democratically elected rogue politicians and become a helpless people after an election. Can such a thing happen? If it does, it is so pathetic, so unbelieveable. This is the 21st Century.
Kopi Level - Green
Smart City comes too late
I was at MBFC before 8am and someone shouted at me. I turned around to see a grouchy face of a very unhappy man. ‘Brother, no market this morning. Market will open at 12.30pm.’ And he was on his way home. I was a little puzzled. He said he got the news on arrival at the office. I think the news was in the Business Times.
On the way from Raffles Place I have flipped through the pages of Today and mypaper but there was not a single piece of news that the SGX would be closed this morning. And I was reading a forum writer talking about how wonderful Smart City will be when news and information flow would be instant. And important news like the closing of the stock market would have been known to all the stake holders and players with the press of a button.
In the office there was already a crowd of unhappy remisiers and staff grumbling about the news and wasting their time waking up early to get to office. How nice would it be if the Govt has installed the Smart City yesterday then no one would look so foolish and unhappy? And so many people would not be wasting their time in the office twiddling their thumbs. It would also help to ease the peak time traffic in the trains.
This episode also reminds us that even if we have a Smart City, if the people are daft or lazy or negligent, the information would not have flowed to the people in a timely way. What is the point of telling people that the market will be closed for half a day when the people are already in the office?
Of course a Smart City would have a lot of stupid problems that they would not tell you. Now they are just telling you the good stuff, the things that you can have but need not have, and may not need or do not want, but have to pay for it. The American intelligence agencies are flooded with information gathered from their snooping around the whole world with all their sophisticated equipment and bugging gadgets. Now, who is going to read them? Who has the time to read them? It would need more than 56 man years to read a day of information collected. It would need thousands of man years to do that. Many people don’t even have the time to read more than two paragraphs of an article in the newspaper.
There will be a lot of information available. Who have the time to browse through them or to use them? Just like there are millions of apps in the market. How many do you need and how many millions you don’t need?
Now for the problems that many people are not counting on. You will be paying for the whole system and infrastructure like it or not. You will be paying for the information like it or not.
Do you still want a Smart City to tell you that you have forgotten to switch off your lights in the toilet or a bee was found in the Antarctic Ice? Are you smart enough to know what is good for you and what is unnecessary and still you will have to pay for it? Ask, who is benefitting from this Smart City and who is making all the money?
Kopi Level - Green
12/02/2014
Hsien Loong’s son should join the opposition
Chris K, a blogger said this in TRE. Though his reasoning was different, I think it is a damn good idea. This is really a win win development. From the point of PAP and Hsien Loong, if his son or sons joined the opposition, either side win will still be PAP and Hsien Loong winning, just like placing bets on a roulette table, placing bets on both sides.
The betterer thing is that if his son or sons join the opposition, the opposition will become more acceptable, become ‘ka ki lang’. When that happens, life for the opposition will be so much more comfortable and easier. They need not fear being fixed. They can be a real alternative to PAP and if they win PAP will say it’s ok, nevermind. It will be a pao ka liao kind of arrangement. No need to call out the army.
And Hsien Loong’s hair would turn black again. No need to keep thinking how to deal with the opposition and fearing what might happen if the opposition wins. Politics will take on a new rhythm, a friendly tune and everyone can pat each other on the back and party everyday. From confrontational politics it will be love making politics.
Of course the people will also benefit. There will be upgrading of estates everywhere, no matter opposition or PAP wards. No need to get approval or support from the Chairman of CCC. Ministers especially the Environment Minister’s life will be more pleasant. Only problem is that the judges will have less cases to deal with. Hong Lim Park can be the same Speakers’ Corner again but nobody will be there like in the past. NParks officers and men in blue will breathe a sigh of relief.
This is the most brilliant suggestion from the social media netizen.
Good or not? WP, SDP and all the Ps, please invite the sons for tea party, quick.
Kopi Level - Blue, thank you.
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