The sun rises from the West

This morning I was in a state of disbelief, that the sun rose from the West. When I opened the Today paper and this headline smacked me right in the face. ‘We need consensus before moving ahead: DPM Teo.’
 
What more do I need to say? What do you thing? Did we get a consensus on PWP? Yes, the consensus was in the Parliament. Did we get a consensus on the Medishield Life? Yes, the consensus was in Parliament. Did we get a consensus on the CPF? Yes the consensus was in Parliament. Did we get a consensus on the influx of foreign trash? Yes, the consensus was decided by dunno who. Was there a consensus on the out of this world salaries?
 
We need a consensus to move forward? ‘We’ means who, deaf frogs? Ya, did anyone say deaf frogs? The consensus of deaf frogs!
 
Can someone tell me what is this ‘We need consensus before moving forward’? Oh, I get it. It’s election time. We need the consensus of the masters. Did I get it right?

Clean city? Singapore not there yet: Vivian

The above is the title of an article by Samantha Goh in the ST on 2 Feb to hammer in the point that Singapore is a dirty country. It also implied that Singaporeans are still guilty of littering and needed to get their acts together. There was also a photo of the litter left on the Alexandra Arch Bridge, tissues, plastic bags, beer and liquor bottles, plastic bottles, food wrappers. Guess who did it? The jokers and jesters would immediately blame the Singaporeans.
 
The ordinary Singaporeans who have been walking around and knew who the culprits were do not need second guessing. It is the foreigners that littered the public places, stupid. Don’t blame it on the Singaporeans.
 
Singapore is not yet a clean city? Where have you been? For kids who were born yesterday, they can be forgiven for their ignorance. Are you a Martian? We were a clean city in the 70s and 80s. We were very proud of this fact and accolade. The whole world was in praise of our beautiful city, clean and green then. Every foreigner stepping out of Changi would be wowed by our clean and beautiful city. Of course you won’t know with the blinkers over your eyes.
 
What happened? Please look at your darling foreigners. They are the filth that were brought in here to litter and dirty the place. Get rid of your darling foreigners and we would be clean and green again. Get rid of them and the trains and buses would smell good and clean again. There are just too many of these filth living among us and bringing down the quality of life here, and the cleanliness of our once beautiful and clean city.
 
Please come down from high heavens and be real. Please say the right thing and do the right thing. If not, we would not only be a dirty country, we will slip from 1st World to 3rd World with the presence of so much filth in our midst, in your watch.

We have been there!

GE 2015/16 – Steady Ravi

Lawyer Ravi has placed his stake at AMK GRC for the next GE. He is going to stand as an independent. His stand, Singapore for Singaporeans and compulsory and equal importance to the four official languages. I think no Singaporean can disagree with his mission. His Singaporean First message is similar to Jee Say’s Singaporean First Party mission. The two can surely work out something if Ravi cannot find enough candidates to stand with him. For the moment there are natural and ready candidates like Roy Ngerng and Han Hui Hui. In fact he would have too many to handle if he were to include the other few who were charged together with Roy for the Hong Lim Saga. Just make sure there is no three corner fight.
 
Have no fear. Ravi already has a team comprising his legal colleagues of Charles Yeo, Liew Zheng Yang and Rubendran.
 
As for the promotion in the use of the four official languages, it is timely with all the changes taking place. This would preempt the call for other major languages to be included as official languages like Hindi and Tagalog. Luckily Chinese is already an official language or the PRCs would demand for Chinese to be included.
 
Looking further ahead into the future, the equality of the language will be a natural thing to be. The population composition could be, just an example, 40% Chinese, 30% Indian, 20% Malay and 10% Others. So getting everyone conversant with all the languages is something to look forward to. The problem is in the details. If English is going to be subplanted, and the other major ethnic groups would insist on speaking their official languages we may have another serious problem in the making. Ravi needs to think through this.
 
Anyway, let’s wait and see what Ravi can make out of it in his political quest to be the PM of Singapore and winning the AMK GRC. AMK is going to be a hotly contested GRC. Maybe it should be divided into two, then Ravi can contest in one and Jee Say in the other.
 
Just a glimpse of the future to come.

CPF – Why must the people beg for the return of their money?

CPF is the people’s money, a life time of savings. What makes the few elected individuals think they have the right to decide on what to do with the people’s money? Tell us, the people who put their money in the CPF, who are you and what right have you, how clever are you, to keep our money at your fancy, that you know best how much the people can have their money back, and how much to return to the people? 

WHO ARE YOU? WHAT ARE YOU? Are you God, supernatural, human beans of abnormal intelligence? To me you are just boys and girls who happened to be elected by the blind voters to form the govt. Period. Do not act too smart or smug. You are ordinary like every Sinkie, nothing more, nothing less. Stop behaving and acting like smart asses.
 
It is high time to stop all the wayang and committees to look into the CPF money and how to keep them and not to return to the people. There is no good reason to keep the money that belongs to the people. Return the money to their rightful owners. It is the right of the people to decide what they want to do with their life savings, to take it all out or to put in the CPF. You just provide the alternatives and the choice is with the owners of the money. No one has the right to dictate to the people on the use of their money. It is NOT your money. Keep your paws away.
 
I say this to you boys and girls, before you start to think clever, to have bright ideas about other people’s money, ask yourself this question, 

WHO ARE YOU?

ISIS’ Moral Lessons for Japan

The lasting legacy of Yukawa and Goto

by MIKOspace

    

Japan society remains shaken over the last 2 weeks in unprecedented shock over the beheading of its 2 citizens, Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto, within a week of each another, by the Islamic ISIS Group in Syria.  Goto, a respected journalist working mostly in the war zones, reportedly went to Syria in October 2014 to try to secure Yukawa's release.

There is no justification whatsoever for ISIS actions. And no senseless deaths of civilians could ever be condoned by any decent human being in the world. Nothing in this Post is therefore intended to demean or devalue the life of Yukawa and Goto, as well as the many others who have fallen victims to ISIS-like inhuman and evil acts throughout the centuries.

It must surely be Deja Vu for many in the older generations in Japan. The thought and video of cold-blooded beheadings must surely evoke national memories kept hidden for nearly 70 years since the end of World War 2 (WW2). Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemns the latest inexplicable killing, and calls it a "heinous act", sharing deep anger and commiseration with his fellow Japanese amidst understandable grief, sympathy and sorrows.  

Such “heinous” acts are not strange to the Japanese, of all people.

Former Japanese WW2 soldiers should have no difficulty seeing the similarity between ISIS standing over Goto and Yukawa just before their respective beheading and a Japanese military officer standing with drawn Samurai sword over one of the 300,000 Chinese in Nanjing and several Chinese cities mostly beheaded (see picture) in a similar manner. Even babies and little children were not spared by the Imperial Japanese.

Older Singaporeans will also remember the beheading of nearly 70,000-90,000 Singaporean Chinese during Operation Sook Ching by the Japanese Occupation from 1942-45. Younger Singaporeans should visit the exhibition galleries in the Old Ford Motor Factory at Bukit Timah, the former factory site where the British surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February 1942 to see and hear the memories of those who survived that tragedy.

The Japanese national position has been to deny that the Nanjing Massacre, and other wartime atrocities ever took place under its benevolent Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere campaign in China and South East Asia from 1935-1945. It has refused stubbornly to apologise for what never took place!

Even Japanese history books are re-written to de-emphasise such “heinous” conduct of the Japanese during WW2.  The denial of WW2 atrocity is the key mission of the influential revisionist organization Nippon Kaigi. It is reported that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is among its 35,000 members, as well as 15 of his 18 key members of the government following the 2014 reshuffle.  Japanese Prime Ministers and other Key Japanese politicians also regularly visit the Yasukuni Shinto Shrine where Japanese had enshrined its top 14 leading WW2 war criminals among the 1,068 other WW2 war criminals who committed “heinous” atrocities, to show their respect and reverence.

Imagine if ISIS were to follow the Japanese Model in remembrance of ISIS members who commit “heinous” acts of evil and decide to build a shrine to include the cold-blooded murderers of Yukawa and Goto? Imagine also that ISIS leaders regularly undertake a pilgrimage to this Shrine to honour and revere especially those who did the beheading of the 2 Japanese citizens?  Imagine further that ISIS dismisses any “allegations”, even withdraws its own video, of its beheading that never took place?  Imagine after all these, ISIS tells an astonished Japan that there is really nothing to apologise for since the beheadings never took place?   

And if someone were to suggest dropping a nuclear bomb on ISIS, assuming ISIS can so targeted, it should be remembered that not one but 2 atomic bombs merely end the Japanese War, but did little to make her feel remorseful or penitent to seek forgiveness and repentance.

This week, having been confronted by evil as great or greater than herself, Japan should begin nation-wide honest conversations over its own “heinous” past acts. Yukawa and Goto’s contribution to Japan social development may be to inspire his countrymen to confront historical truths and facts squarely and to recognize its own culpability in the prolonged pain and suffering in her victims as a result of her denial and recalcitrance.

The scars of Yukawa and Goto tragic deaths may never healed until Japanese takes active concrete steps to heal the wounds and painful memories of those whom she has inflicted much deeper wounds and pain. The lasting legacy of Yukawa and Goto lies in bringing the Truth of Japanese war atrocities into the living room, classrooms and social conversations. 

Ironically, ISIS’ only moral but greatest lessons in Yakuwa and Goto may well be to finally bring a remorseful and recalcitrant Japan onto its knees in deep contrite and regrets to owe up to its own similar beheading spree of innocence and other evil deeds 70 years ago in the Asia Pacific.

Read Original Article (with photos):

Japan Learns from ISIS