PAP has done exceptionally well in molding the thinkings of the daft

There is a believer who openly confessed that he did not mind being a dog to a good owner. Is this being humble, self deprecating, deference or what? Why would anyone wish to be a dog and be so proud of it? This is just a small example of how successful PAP is in winning the hearts and minds of the people. Today it is indispensable as the political party to rule this country. No one else is able to do so. This message has taken root in the brains of the daft as an unquestionable truth. No other political party has the talents to run this country, only PAP can. And Hsien Loong summed it up by saying that Singapore would be in deep trouble if PAP lost the next GE. Many are so domesticated that in the absence of the owners they would be lost. They are unable to live on their own, find their own way in life. They are badly dependent on the good owner, the PAP.
 
Take a look at another view. All the political talents are with the PAP. All the other parties have no talent. Where do these talents come from? Are they not the Ah Kows and Ah Huats, the Ahmads and Subramaniams who lived next door to you? How did they become super talents and talented born politicians to rule this country overnight?
 
The answer is very simple. All the PAP needs to do is to hang a PAP badge on their chests and make them wear white. Abracadabra, there you are, one talented politician coming out from the hat. You want more, abracadabra, another one from the hat. Those pulled out from the opposition parties’ hats are duds, must be duds, and would not know how to run a country. They would not have the talents like the likes of the Desmonds and the Victors to serve you.
 
The expectation and confidence in PAP candidates are legendary, mythical. The PAP can even pull out rats from the hats and people will call them political talents, the political leaders that will know how to rule the people well. They could also pull out foreigners (given pink ICs) that were here for a few years to offer to the people as political leaders, and the people will believe and accept them as the best people to rule them. Maybe being migrant stocks, Sinkies love to be ruled by foreigners who are new citizens.
 
This is how powerful the PAP has become. The believers and converts will simply believe with no question ask. Everyone pulled out from the PAP hat is as good as gold and worth every cent paid to them. Your future depends on them, the instant political leaders from the PAP hat. One day working as a soldier, lawyer, doctor, tomorrow become instant national leaders, born to rule. Reject them at your own peril. You shall repent if you don’t vote for them.
 
Some may think that this is a myth that the PAP has spun. But they are very effective and very real after believing it for so long. It has become second nature. Like the story books of yore, the prince was always charming and the knight in shining armour. Who would dare to imagine that the princes in the fairy tales could be ugly and duds? The charming princes will always ride off with their fair princesses and live happily ever after.
 
When would the daft stop believing in fairy tales?

Kopi Level - Green

High cost of living undermining family formation

Childcare fee is now averaging around $800 and would be $1,000 next year. Some childcare centres are quoting $1,500 per child. This means a two child family with children in childcare centres would need to cough out $3,000 just for the basic childcare fees. How much more would the family need to provide for the living expenses of two children in a household. And how much would the family need for the full household expenses of two working adults, to provide a roof over their heads, not mentioning a family car.
 
An average two child family would still be trying to make ends meet with a $6,000 monthly income. It is time to stop listening to fools who are claiming that $1,000 income can buy a 2 rm HDB flat or enough to live on. Stop spreading lies as the total living cost for a family is much more than $1,000 and this sum is unbearable, below subsistence or poverty level in this most expensive or one of the most expensive city in the world.
High cost of living is not a joking matter. Even an average family with a $6,000 household income would be greatly stressed and in debt if misfortune hits, like a major illness for one member of the family, or if one member loses his/her job to a foreigner.
 
How could an average family afford to live comfortably with anything less than $5,000, without financial worries like a blade hanging over their heads, to even dare to have two children? And all the cocks are yelling at the Singaporeans to have more babies to help the economy, to provide workers for the economy. Is this a reasonable call? Are they going to provide for the living expenses of the children? Just childcare fee is enough to break a family’s small income.
 
How many parents are so irresponsible to think of having more than one baby if they have a household income of less than $6,000? What kind of life would they be living when more than 50% of their hard earned income would go straight to paying childcare and much more to bring up two children? And there are people complaining that $100k a month income is not enough for their family to live well. And can they expect people to live decently with less than $5,000 and to have two children to raise?
 
What is going on? For the super talents with more than $10k or $20k income or more, paying $3,000 monthly for childcare is bearable when there are a lot of spare cash for other things of comfort. For many average Singaporeans, please, they are not daft and they know the sums. Not having baby is the logical and responsible choice when the cost of living is so high.
 
Did I hear the cocks crowing? $1,000 or $2,000 is enough to raise a family and have children to contribute to the economy?

Kopi Level - Green

QZ8501 – Another statistic in air accident?

When news of the missing Air Asia QZ8501 hit the airwaves, it was greeted with sadness that another bad accident happened. It was just that except for the shock and the thoughts of the grief of the affected members related to those on board. Painful yes, and the attention would be at the families and friends and how to help them cope through this period of uncertainties, and a likely tragedy. A couple of hours after the aircraft was declared missing, and missing the ETD at Changi, everyone was preparing for the worst. It looked that way, and any hope was for miracles to happen.

36 hours have passed, the dust settled, and the picture becomes clearer. Bits and pieces of the story came together. The families and friends are not going to have high hopes by now. What appeared to be another air incident is starting to look not so ordinary again. The initial failure of a May Day call could have been due to many reasons, lightning strike or an air explosion that did not give the pilot a chance to make the mandatory call they were trained to do in an emergency.

Scores of ships and aircraft have been searching the area for more than one and a half days and came up with nothing. No debris, no oil slick and most of all, the fail safe beeping from the black boxes were also not detected. This is mysterious. The boxes were programmed to do exactly this, to beep when in the water or there is a crash. This is one of the most vital functions of the black boxes, to lead the way to the crash site, to help and facilitate in locating the aircraft and the boxes. What is happening?

To reconstruct, there are some uncanny similarities to MH370. The aircraft was approaching mid point between Jakarta and Singapore and an air traffic handover was expected soon. It was in the early hours of the morning, in darkness. The aircraft made changes in heading and flight levels though the circumstances in this case were established, due to bad weather. And the aircraft was gone and no longer on radar. There was no May Day call in both incidents. And early searches proved in vain, no wreckage, no debris, no oil slicks. Now to look at the air traffic communication and radar recorders to determine the exact sequence of events and what transpired between pilot and air traffic controller. No terrorist agencies claiming responsibility for a job done.

Some of the dissimilarities, so far nothing confirmed, were that there was no mad or suicidal pilot flying the aircraft. No sensitive equipment on board or confirmed yet. No cargoes of mangosteens mentioned. The passenger manifest was mostly Indonesians, no sensitive PRC Chinese scientists that could link to international espionage and intrigue.

Here are some unusual news bits. An Indonesian who was supposed to be on the flight but cancelled his trip, received a strange farewell message from his friends on board saying ‘Goodbye forever’. Was this meant to be a cheeky message among friends or something else? Another piece of news, a sister of a passenger received a message saying that aircraft had landed in Belitung East and all passengers were safe. This latter message should be easy to confirm and by now when nothing is heard, is likely to be a hoax.

Kopi Level - Red

Rats, I am out of touch!

In my earlier post on the rats at Bukit Batok I made a conservative guesstimate on how much it would cost to get rid of the rats problem. Off hand someone suggested that it would cost $30k to get the job done. And that was huge to cull 300 rats at $100 each. How wrong he was though I too thought that would be reasonable, to kill a rat. $100 a piece!
 
Someone pointed to me that the Chinese media has reported that the whole operation costs $120k. My God, that would be $500 for 1 rat as slightly more than 230 rats were caught. That sum of money could buy 1,000 roast pigs to feed a lot of people.
 
I can’t imagine rats are so highly priced, must be golden rats or pedigree rats. And hope the $120k is the final number and no more over and above to add on.
 
I am really out of touch with the cost of everything.

Complain some more lah. Who do you think will pay for it?

Kopi Level - Red

Can PAP change? That’s seems to be the hope of some in the Silver Brigade

I was reading this article in TRE, ‘Can PAP change without being pushed to the edge?’ written by a Silver Brigade, a self confessed PAP supporter for 60 years. Having lived with disappointments after disappointments, he is still cherishing the hope of a PAP changing from it present belief system to the old PAP that was for the people, a PAP that won the hearts and minds of the Silver Brigade when they were young. What the article did not say is that the PAP has changed, no longer the party they would want to support. But no PAP leaders or believers would think otherwise and believe that they are still for the people and working for the good of the people. They said so. There is no need to pass a verdict on whose thinking is the truth. If anyone still cannot see the truth and unwilling to face the truth, he deserves to live the fate he so believed.

I would not touch on the PAP version of the truth, that they are a party for the people. Assuming they are right, let them believe so. Let those who believe so to keep on believing. Let me pick up from the view of this Silver Brigade veteran called Hawking Eye. Many in the social media shared his view that the PAP is no longer the same PAP they knew. The question therefore is whether this hope of a PAP returning to its old self, of being a party for the people and serving the people, is realistic.

Since 2011, has the PAP changed? During the electioneering, some thought that with Hsien Loong crying and pleading to be given a chance to right the wrongs, there was hope that things would change for the better. What happened? What has changed? I am not going to provide any answers as everyone will have his or her own answer to that. For those who believe in God, they may say God is kind and is giving the PAP a lot of chances to change.

Did the loss of Aljunied GRC make the PAP change? Did the loss of Hougang and the by election change the PAP? Not sure? A forced event in Punggol East to test the PAP, was the most unexpected, but another clear signal to see if the PAP was going to change? It led to a super talent biting the dust by an unknown and ordinary Singaporean. Would this wake the PAP up to change? One more chance, the Presidential Election and the dismal 34% must be a very clear indication that change is a must.

What do you think? Did the PAP change? Did the Little India Riot change anything on the foreign influx and immigration? Is there any change on the PWP? Is there any change on the CPF? Is there any change on the hiring of local PMEs versus foreigners? Did the Job Banks and FCF mean anything or make any difference? Are there real changes to the high cost of living, property prices, medical fees etc etc?

Got change or no change, you tell me lah? What is the AHPETC episode saying about the PAP? Is there any real hope of change or is it wishful thinking? Have the people waited long enough, hoping against all hopes? Should the people still be hoping for the PAP to change or they should give up hope?

For those who have seen positive changes, good. For those who are still not seeing any change and everything is just the same, then what? Where to go from here? Still hoping like Hawking Eye, for another 60 years for change, or hoping for God to give more warning signs that change is needed?

Should the people still be asking can the PAP change at this stage of the game? How many more years would the people want to continue asking this question? I know the Silver Brigade have not much time left and their places would be replaced by new members coming of age to join the Brigade. I know that people who are born daft would be daft forever. Those conditioned to be daft, when shown the way, should wake up and stop being daft. Or would they choose to remain daft as that is an easier and more comfortable way to live. Let things be, let’s live on hope. I think buying lottery tickets is another avenue for the hopefuls.

The asking of the question, can PAP change, is a giveaway answer.

Kopi Level - Red