A time for forgiveness, a time to let go

The politics of Thailand centres around one man, a man god, the Thai King. He is not involved in politics but he is politics. Thaksin Shinawatra was one of his politics. The former Prime Minister, a people’s Prime Minister, has been criminalised and forced to exile from Thailand. Many politicians that were not in the right side, including Yingluck pending prosecution, were also charged and found guilty of whatever crimes the court could prosecute them.

The Thai people have thus been divided, and there were even talks of a breakaway Thai Republic from the power centre in Bangkok. This was found to be just wishful thinking. A better and less dramatic development would be to hope for a King’s amnesty to pardon all the political ‘criminals’. This has not happened and not much time is left for the King to have a change of heart and to leave a legacy of a divided Thailand that could precipitate in a final break up of the country when the King is passé.

In the last few days of the King’s reign and time, many Thais are hoping for a national healing, a time to forgive and to start a new chapter of national reconciliation. Would the King’s last act be an act of generosity and magnanimity for the good of Thailand? Or would he leave behind a Thailand in a state of tension and leading to a rejuggling of power and control, or worst, in his absence? The King is still able to make his last wish come true for the good or bad of Thailand.

Singapore may not exactly be in the same dilemma but shares a lot of similarities. Behind the façade of law and order and stability, many unseen forces are at work and waiting to happen. When there is still time left, would it be good that some kind of amnesty equivalent or mercy be shown to the fallen and the exiled that happened to be on the wrong side of the political divide?

Amazing Grace is a very power song to heal the wounds and cleanse the souls. An act of Amazing Grace can remove a big boulder on the hill top that was placed there strategically, and waiting to be rolled down the slope to flatten whatever on its path of fury and vengeance. There is an urgent need for healing, to bury the hatchet, to shake hands and let the past fade into history with minimal acrimony.

There is never a good time, never too late, to bring home our Singaporeans overseas who still believe and call this island home. Any time is a good time to bury the hatchet, bury the hate and bitterness of past rivalry. These are the things that one should not keep in the heart forever or to bring along to paradise.  Better to settle the debt in this world and go with a clean conscience, they say RIP, or it would be paid by the next generation. The sons and daughters of Singapore have a right to return to home. This honour and graciousness would be extended to them sooner or later. And many would like to take credit to bring joy to the hearts of Singaporeans, to see our long lost sons and daughter coming home, to be one of us again.

Goddess of Mercy too would put on a smile should there be an amnesty for all Singaporeans wanting to come home. Lay down the butcher’s knife, look back, the shore is beckoning. 

The time is now and here. 

Kopi Level - Yellow

 

The Interview – The continuing saga of Sony Pictures

I painted a scenario of what could really happen to the attack on Sony Pictures and how Obama and his gangsters jumped in to create a farce by pointing the finger at North Korea with the re enacting of another fabricated ‘WMD’ case as an excuse to attack the North Koreans. Vital US interests are at stake. The South Koreans are getting a bit uncomfortable with the entrenched position of American bases in their country and are making moves to evict the Americans soonest possible. As respectable independent country and with national pride, they cannot be a semi colony of the Americans forever. It is a very shameful state of affair and very unhealthy to be made a tool of American world hegemony.

The Americans are aware of this discord and the only reason for them to hang on and dig in, to remain in South Korea, to keep South Korea as a semi colony to do its bidding, is to stir up more shit of the North Korean threat. The Americans need military tension and a state of war in some corners of the world, the further away from the USA the better, to promote the sales of American weapons and to continue to be the undisputed Emperor and Empire of the world.

Having set the Arab world in flame that would last several decades, they are now wriggling their way out and to create another hot spot to exploit. When the rest of the world are bickering and fighting each other, the American war industry would be the sole beneficiary of the conflict, not the ordinary Americans that may end up as cannon fodder.

The threats and attacks on Sony Pictures are great excuses to open a new theatre of war. My earlier position was that the attack on Sony Pictures was another false flag incident created by the Americans. A group called the Lizard Squad has now claimed ownership of the attack on Sony. In a statement, ‘I have the nation on strings’ on its Twitter site, a new picture has emerged. The Lizard Squad did not say they had the Americans or the US on strings. The North Koreans would use that kind of relationship language. A new likelihood is that the Lizard Squad is a home ground hacker group in the US. And for attacking Sony Pictures PlayStation and Microsoft XBox after the Americans have brought down the North Korean computers system, it is another sign that this group is not in North Korea and their ability to strike at Sony Pictures and Microsoft is intact, and very likely in US soil.

The North Koreans were angry with Sony Pictures but not with Microsoft Xbox and also did not have the capability to hit at both though claimed to be able to do so by the White House. And having failed to drive a wedge between China and North Korea, failing to turn China against its closest ally, the attack naturally will turn towards China. They are now accusing China for aiding the North Koreans in the attack despite the appearance of the Lizard Squad.

The attacks on Sony and Microsoft are side shows that have been hijacked by the White House, and Obama has replaced Bush, to fabricate another ‘WMD’ accusation to start something very big and very hostile against the North Koreas. This is just the beginning. More accusations and fabrications of ‘truths’ would be printed in the western media, claiming reliable intelligence sources, to prepare the world to accept an attack against North Korea. The tension in the Korean Peninsula must be raised to justify the American bases in South Korea and in Japan, another semi colony.  

Without the ‘spectre’ of the ‘evil’ North Korean regime, there is no reason for the two countries to allow American troops in their countries and to be under the domination of the American Empire. Both want peace but the Americans would not allow it. Both are capable of holding the North Koreans at bay should there be a war but the Americans insisted that they need the Americans’ protection and bases in their soil. Without the Americans provoking the North Koreans, the neighbours would have mended their relations and lower the tensions in the region.

The world must prepare for more trouble in East Asia. The Americans need to create another war to justify their presence, their role as the Emperor to wage wars and to make profits from weapons sales. The UN has been roped in to be the accomplice in provoking and attacking the North Koreans, starting with the accusation of human rights violation and war crimes. Many of the willing cronies would soon join in under the threats of either you are with US or against US.

Who would be paying the heavy price when war breaks out? The two Koreans would be killing each other and bombing their cities to oblivions. Japan and China would also be dragged in and suffer the consequences of war.

Kopi Level - Green

What Singapore needs is smart Singaporeans, not smart city

The story of a smart city is the way to go forward, so much promise like having paradise on earth. On the other hand many have rightly said that an infrastructure that is going to do every small little thing for the people would take away the people’s instinct to think and make them stupid in the process.

What Singapore, or any country, needs are smart people. If you are still not sure what that means, look at Japan. Japan is a country of smart people. Smartness in this case is not like making everyone a super talent, but making everyone a thinking person, a caring person, everyone thinking that he is a Japanese and Japan is his country, his home. When the people, like the Japanese, think that way, you would have very little need to have to depend on computers to keep the country in order. The people would not only be disciplined, responsible and proud of being citizens of the country, they will keep the country clean and in order. No more littering, no more graffiti and would even pick up litters left by careless people.

Smart people would transform a country into a garden paradise with very little effort and very little mechanization or computerization. Alas, you can only have such a country like Japan when the people are of one mind, think alike and acting and responsible, and very country proud, like home proud.

How could this happen in a country where half the population is made up of prostitutes and vagabonds? Would the building of a smart city help to turn it into a better place to live in when the prostitutes and vagabonds, people who have no attachments and ownerships in the island and would just treat the island like a cheap hotel? Even an expensive hotel will be turned into a rubbish dump after the guests checked out.

And the sad part, we are getting dafter while the new hotel guests are not any better either. Smart city or smart people which way to go forward? When the people are daft and cannot be taught, then smart city is the way to go, provided the daft people can still be taught to press buttons and follow instructions. And provided the city is not filled with prostitutes and vagabonds that have no attachment or concern to the city’s state of affairs.

Taiwan and South Korea are probably the next to rise to the level of the Japanese, with smart people and not totally dependent on smart machine and smart city that would make them more daft. The social achievements of Japan as a country and people far outweigh all the economic numbers that other countries are chasing. Japan as a well organized country and a nation of smart people is an act that is very difficult to follow and impossible for a country that has turned itself into a cheap hotel filled with 3^rd world inhabitants and daft citizens that don’t even know that this is their country.

And to make the situation more depressing is that any Sinkie that turns 55 also loses his brain, becomes irresponsible and mindless, stupid is the word.

Kopi Level - Green

A new world order, a new asymmetrical warfare

The movie, ‘The Interview’ by Sony Pictures has given rise to a new phenomenon in interstate rivalry and warfare. Anyone can now conduct a war from the comfort of his bedroom in any corner of the world, if he is connected to the internet. Sony Pictures or the Americans, were blackmailed by some unknown hackers, could be another false flag incident, to abandon the screening of the movie in American theatres and theatres around the world. The threats from the North Korean side could be real. The actual execution of the threat is suspicious. Are the North Koreans that sophisticated? What happens to all the derogatory comments and analysis by so called great analysts that this is a very backward country? How could they become so intelligent and sophisticated in leading edge technology overnight? To make this look real, some great western minds were tasked to paint a different picture that the North Koreans are really very smart people and can do the damage that was done. Anyone smell a rat? Anyway this is another issue.
 
The new threats did not come from the possession of WMD but a computer and a set of keyboards. With the knowledge of computer technology and hacking, the hackers can declare war on anyone anywhere.
Sony Pictures was defeated. The mighty American movie industry was defeated. The Americans were defeated. Who says you can have your freedom and do whatever you want, anywhere you want? You cannot even have your freedom of choice to watch a movie the Americans produced in America. The ballgame has changed.
 
Yes, the North Koreans said so. What, who? You mean the North Koreans can now censor the movies to be screened in American cities? In a way, yes. Sony Pictures and the theatres were held at ransom by the North Koreans, one of the poorest and technologically deprived nation in the world, particularly in internet and computer technology. North Korea did not have the Silicon Valley, Microsoft, IBM, HP, and all the software giants with leading edge computer technology. How could they do it, to bring Sony Pictures and the Americans on their knees? How could they have the audacity to tell the Americans and Sony Pictures not to screen the Interview and both quietly acceded to their demands?
 
The fact that Sony Pictures made a slight change to release the movie online and limited screening told of another story. This threat was so important that even Obama was involved. And Sony changed its mind after a big hacking took place in North Korea when most of they computer networks were down, to prove a point. Sony felt safer that the Americans could do the damage to the North and Sony needed not fear. But not all the theatres are willing to take the risk. What was America and Obama telling Sony and the rest of the world, Who done it in the ‘attack’ by the North Koreans and the counter attack by the Americans?
 
The power of the internet has reached another level. Controlling the internet is going to make a difference in world affairs. Your freedom, or the American freedom, is now limited by the very people who feel offended or victimized by American freedom to do as they pleased. And in an all out electronic warfare, the Americans are going to be on the wrong side of the equation when everything in America is hooked onto the computers.
 
A country like North Korea ironically would end up the upper hand by not having all their systems hooked up on the computers. It is like being hooked on the power grid. Switch off the power or interrupt the power will stall the whole system and network. The manual system, not on the power grid, not dependent on electrical power, not hooked onto the computer system, will continue to function normally.
 
The whole of the western world, computerized and connected, will become as vulnerable as the weakest link in the system. The enemy only needs a young boy or girl and a keyboard to bring down the mighty systems and networks from his/her bedroom. Yes it can be done.
 
Welcome to the brave new world of computer technology and internet. The rules of the game have changed and the entry barrier is quite low. The little nerd can control everything in your system and wreak havoc if he is able and capable of doing at minimal cost. The whole American military system, nuclear system, financial system, power grid, transportation, communications, etc are vulnerable to hacking threats and can all be accessed and be brought to a halt by the press of a few buttons.
 
This is asymmetrical warfare at its best when the gap of military power, technology and hardware can be narrowed and bridged by the intelligence of software and clever little schoolboys and girls. The North Koreans have found a way and is showing the world how it can be done. Or are the Americans showing the world that it can be done? The full potential of this warfare has yet to be determined and exploited.

Kopi Level - Yellow

Barry Desker – Dual citizenship?

Below is what I quoted from an article posted in the The Real Singapore on what Barry Desker wrote in the Straits Times.
 
Professor Barry Desker believes that Singapore should allow dual citizenship and Singaporeans should welcome new citizens and encourage their integration into the Singapore society. I have heard in the rumour mill that Singapore is pondering over this idea of dual citizenship and the thought of who would benefit from this and who would pay a heavy price for it is really scary and plain stupidity. For Barry to write about it means that some dangerous idiots are seriously toying with this idea, just like nuclear power station and the fait accompli 6.9m population.
 
Let me just point out a few pertinent points in Barry’s article on this devious scheme.
"We should revise our laws to permit dual citizenship, which benefits some who are permanent residents but do not wish to give up the citizenship of their land of birth….It would also allow the growing numbers of Singaporeans working abroad to retain their links with Singapore."
 
Is the introduction of dual citizenship a solution to Barry’s interest on the above and concern of the influx of foreigners here?
 
"…the unsustainable sharp influx of foreigners granted permanent residence, as well as employment permits, in recent years has resulted in a backlash, making the issue of immigration politically toxic,” …and to alleviate the fear of younger Singaporeans and their "concerned about competition for university places or preferred jobs".
 
And how would dual citizenship help to remove the worry of older Singaporeans feeling stressful with neighbours speaking in alien languages and different lifestyles as well as the congregation of new ghettos of new immigrants and expatriates from certain nationalities congregating in preferred locations?
 
"The past year has seen rising anti-immigration sentiment in Singapore," Prof Barry added…"MRT trains are crowded, hospital beds always full, traffic jams occur frequently, once-quiet parks are filled with foreign workers on weekends…The rapid pace of the foreign influx resulted in growing criticism and an undercurrent of resentment reflected in social media sites."
 
So, with all the problems that he is acknowledging, are these problems going to go away or will get worst with dual citizenships? The contradictions are too glaring that I am too tired to even want to talk about it. Just ask what is going to happen to National Service, to all the policies that discriminate between citizens and non citizens, the privileges of citizenship, subsidies to medical care, schools, school fees, public housing and housing prices, and the angpows from the nation’s surpluses in the form of national bonuses, employment, rights to vote etc etc.

It is highly unusual for a man intellect, and expressing reservations and concerns on high population but advocating dual citizenship in the same breath. Why is he making such strange comments? I can’t help but to ask Barry what he has been drinking. Dual citizenship must be good for the Singaporeans right, how?

Kopi Level - Yellow