India, the superpower pretender

‘Recession plagued Russia needs India more than before.’ This is the subheading of an article, Old bedfellows, but commercially disjointed, by Sreenam Chaulia. Other than this catchy subtitle, the whole article was all about how great India is, and about India’s super power ambition, about India’s zone of influence, which are understandable, just like the award of Modi with the Asian of the Year Award for doing nothing except hurling rhetoric of how great India could be.
 
Back to the subtitle, Russia needs India more than before, or is it India needs Russia more than before? What is it that Russia needs from India other than money which India has very little? The truth, as Sreenam elaborated in his article is that India needs a lot of things from Russia and not the other way.
 
India is aspiring to be a super power but lacks everything a super power has except making hollow speeches of greatness and potential of greatness. What India needs from the Russians are weaponry, nuclear power stations for the high grade plutonium for nuclear weapons, of course the energy potential, the natural gases, fighter aircraft and aircraft technology, the submarines, aircraft carriers, cutting edge technology, not low budget engineering.
 
What can India offer to Russia? The minuscule trade figures tell the whole story. Putin is pushing for a US$100b trade with China next year. India is talking about a US$10b trade with the Russians. And Russia is willing to sell, can the Indians afford to buy? What is there for the Indians to sell to the Russians, maybe some foodstuff.
 
So, who needs who more? Russia needs India more? What can the Indians offer the Russians? Maybe the next article will be Singapore needs India more than India needs Singapore.

Kopi Level - Blue, thank you.

PAP reviewing the CPF Scheme?

The CPF Scheme is a damn good saving scheme gone wrong. If the scheme has not be subject to so many abuses and misuses, today the retirees would be smiling in contentment in their twilight years, living off the savings they have set aside for a life time of work and toil. We are about the biggest savers as a people, saving as much as 50% of our income for retirement. How could this be not enough? How could this, with other savings, be not enough for our retirement?
 
Anyone wants to know why? Now Chuan Jin is going to review the CPF Minimum Sums to make it more flexible as the govt suddenly realized that not everyone has the same need or money problem. So a lot of efforts and resources will be devoted to make Minimum Sum more flexible, designed to the needs of different groups of individuals.
 
Is this not pathetic? One of the greatest and bestest saving schemes in trouble, money not enough! Anyone wants to know why money not enough? Think HDB prices. Anyone wants to scratch the pimples when the system is cancerous? Anyone wants to know what is the cause of the cancer?
 
This is like the Stock Exchange, nothing is wrong, very fine. Just massage the little thing, and all is fine. Why is everyone buying pimple creams when the body is dying of cancer?
If the hole is so big, no matter how much is put into the savings, nothing much will be left if the hole is not patched. The tweaking of the Minimum Sum which is not the problem but a symptom of how nonsensical the CPF Scheme has become is but just a diversion.
 
Deal with the real problems and causes that are eating away at the people’s savings. There should not be any minimum sums schemes at all. Return the money to the people as it was intended when the Scheme was first conceived. The CPF savings are the people’s money and it must be returned to the rightful owners, nothing less.

Kopi Level - Blue, thank you.

National leaders versus boy scouts/girl guides

Many people take their early life experience with them wherever they go. Boy scouts and girl guides would bring along their fun times, their pranks and brickbats with them in their jobs as adults. And what are boy scouts and girl guides famous for? Curi ayam, placing thumb tacks on the chairs of unsuspecting victims, waking up in the middle of the night to flatten the sandcastles of competitors, pulling the chairs while someone is about to sit down. These are childish pranks that were fun where one is young in the heart and in the head. Hopefully the boys and girls, when turned adults, would remember them fondly as part and parcel of growing up, but not to think and practise them in adulthood.
 
Many boys and girls grow into top management positions. Some became professionals and some became national leaders. The wiser ones, the more intelligent ones, will know that their stations in life have changed. As a professional, they need to live and act as a professional. As national leaders, they must rise to the occasion and act and behave like national leaders, not like boy scouts and girl guides.
 
It is not funny, not at all, and very pathetic if these boys and girls grow up and still continue to behave like boy scouts and girl guides, playing their pranks and thinking they are very clever. Worse if any of them become national leaders and still behave in such manners. When are these boys and girls going to grow up and take their adult roles seriously and behave like adults and national leaders?
 
No more thumb tacks, please. No more pulling people’s chairs from their behinds.
 
Are you a national leader or a boy scout/girl guide?

Kopi Level - Yellow

Human Rights – The Americans walking around naked

The exposure of the misdeeds committed against humanity by the Americans/CIA came in time for Christmas. In a way this is the best Christmas gift for the Americans. In another way it is so sad for the rest of world to think that they did not know, did not bother to monitor what this demon has been doing against other countries and people, and only when the Americans made a slip then the world got to know about it. The Americans have been using this Human Rights excuse to attack and punish the rest of the world, and the whole world looks like pathetic sheep, guilty as the Americans accused them of.
 
Now the Americans are walking naked for the world to see, guilty and confirmed and convicted by their own conscience, of the worst human rights violation in the 21st Century. But his disclosure of torture against Muslim and Arab prisoners is really nothing, really, if you count the killings and maiming of hundreds of thousand of Iraqis alone by the invasion that also resulted in the murder of President Saddam Hussein all because of a lie fabricated by Bush and Blair.
 
Soon the world will forget of these crimes as the western media would soon stop talking about them and the Americans would go around pointing their fingers and carrying a cane again. But before that, the Malaysians are taking notice of this and rebuking the Americans for their hypocrisy. Perkasa, a Malay rights group has criticized the US for gross violation of human rights and also practicing double standards. ‘The US is the father of all devils in this world. What right has it to intervene(into Malaysia’s affair)?’
 
Would the Americans still dare to walk around naked showing what is hanging between their legs and accusing the world of obscenity?

Kopi Level - Yellow

PAP falls, would Singapore be in deep trouble?

I have been pondering over this statement for several days and trying to make a balance approach to this piece of rhetoric. Would Singapore be in deep trouble when PAP falls and the opposition parties take over as the new govt? A good way to look at this comment is the recent installation of Jokowi as the new President of Indonesia. Jokowi is in many senses like the opposition parties in Singapore. A man with no scintillating strings of As and MBAs. He rose from the ranks, made his fortune and became the governor of Jakarta. Not the kind of experience at national level, but more relevant experience than our boys and girls who became ministers, and definitely more experienced than our opposition party leaders running their constituencies and town council.
 
And the best part, the out going President did all he could to ensure that the new President took power in an orderly manner, and no one, no rogue generals would be there to make things difficult, no rogue politicians would be allowed to disrupt the ceremony. Yudhoyono has proven to be a great president, a valiant and honourable gentlemen, and truly deserved to be the Asian of the Year instead of the 6 month old Modi who has done nothing except meeting foreign leaders and rhetoric of great power. The danger of Jokowi being deprived of his presidency and turning Indonesia into turmoil were extremely grave.
 
What would happen to this first world pretender island if there is a change of political power? Would it be in deep trouble? Maybe the PAP believes that all the talents that can govern this little island are with them and there will be no one good enough to take over and all systems will break down. This is of course rubbish.
 
The danger of a major crisis can come from a losing ruling party refusing to hand over power gracefully, or a military coup. If this is really a first world country, it can be expected that the outgoing ruling party would do the honour to ensure a proper hand over of power and responsibilities. And this applies to all the ministries and stats boards. All Singaporeans expect it to be that way. It must be that way in a democracy when the change of power is in-built in the system. Theoretically there could be a change of power after every GE. Our one party rule without a change of power is unnatural and would not be for too long or so long. A time must come for a change of power, and an orderly and peaceful one if the men in charge are responsible and honourable, who obey the democratic constitution of this country. Not handing over power or disrupting the handing over of power is against the law. Anyone or political power that lost an election and refused to hand over power could be arrested under the law.
 
So, can we expect a proper handover of political power when there the PAP falls and Singapore continues to run smoothly and efficiently like before, all things normal, no deep trouble? Any one flirting to ride the tiger of disorder or a military coup must be prepared to be devoured by the tiger should things turn bad. It is a road of no return once embarked on. Yes, if this happens, Singapore will be in deep trouble.

Kopi Level - Yellow