Cabinet changes – Read the tea leaves

Masagos Zulkifli is promoted to full minister in the PMO. There is no doubt that this is a promotion. Then there were a few changes with Lui Tuck Yew taking up a second appointment as Second Minister for Defence. This must be a promotion I supposed, for a job well done as Transport Minister. The perceived future PM Chan Chun Sing is moving to NTUC as Minister without Portfolio in the PMO. Not sure what does this mean, a promotion, demotion or lateral transfer. His Social and Family ministry is to be taken over by the Chuan Jin, the Minister of Manpower. Is Chuan Jin being given a lighter job after sweating it out in the hot MOM for 3 years, presumably MSF is more social and about family matters, about carrying and kissing babies. What is surprising is for Lim Swee Say to move to MOM, a full ministry after being Minister without Portfolio and doing very well there. He has made many indications to step down and this appointment does not seem like he is stepping down.
 
Political observers and analysts would be scratching their heads trying to make meanings out of this shift when election is just around the corner. Do the changes indicate anything about the GE? The promotion of Masagos is clearly perceived as pandering for the Malay votes. What is the story of giving Lui Tuck Yew the Second Minister appointment? Grooming him for bigger responsibilities because he did a damn good job in transport?
 
What about Chan Chun Sing’s move to NTUC, a plan to expose him to the ground to get to know the biggest workers movement to prepare him for the PM’s post? The puzzling move is for Chuan Jin to take over the MSF, a relatively light weight ministry unless this is the seat for the grooming of future PMs like Chun Sing, following the path of Chun Sing as the next in line. Just watch if Chuan Jin would subsequently take over the NTUC position as the career development path of a future PM to be.
 
Anyone could see a bigger and clearer picture of what this is all about? One thing for sure, salary increases and higher cost of govt. It is so shiok to promote more ministers to make them happy using OPM. How many ministers are in the PMO?

China MUST not go down the path of self destruction

When I read about China offering Shanghai and Hongkong as the alternative international stock exchanges to the world without HFT/computer trading and massive manipulation, I was pleased that China has found a way from the decadent and corrupt exchanges of the western model. The western model of stock exchanges and financial systems are not sustainable, operating under rules and systems that are worst than the casinos, fraudulent, unfair and designed to cheat the innocent masses.

I was shock to read in the local media that China is going to allow the banks to buy over security brokerages and licenced to trade in the exchanges. And they know what this means, the strong will get stronger and the weak gets weaker. The banks, with their financial muscles, will edge out every other player and expedite the early demise of the stock exchange industry. If China cannot see what would happen to their thriving stock markets that are relatively free from HFT and massive speculations by the big funds, they should look at the state of health of the Singapore stock market. It is dying, in a state of denial, and no one knows how to save it but pretending that it is doing fine, very fine.

China must not allow the banks to buy over the brokerages to indulge in unfair trading in the stock market. China must resist this move and not be pressurised to conform to a fraudulent stock market/financial system designed by the West. Their stock markets are healthy and doing well. Do not be deceived by the snake oil sellers and take the slippery path to self destruction. The banks must be kept out of the stock market, to do banking and not speculations and trading equities, writing derivatives and selling derivatives based on equities.

China beware, and know what you are in for. Do not be misled by the snake oil sellers and the blind. Do not fall into a trap and commit the same mistakes as Singapore and unable to unwind without killing the stock market. Sit tight and watch how the western modelled stock exchanges collapse in due course, in the next few years. Do not be conned to join the bandwagon of destruction!

Just look at what is happening at the Hong Kong Exchange and what is happening to the Singapore Exchange over the last few days or months. You want Hong Kong to be in the same deplorable and pathetic state of dying and fading into oblivion?

Orang Melayu – Old ties that bind

The one week of state funeral was best remembered by the passing of a political giant of an era and the outpouring of sadness by people at home and those abroad. Many foreign leaders were here on their personal capacity or representing their respective govts to pay their last respect to the man lying in state. While everyone was immersed in the solemn and somber mood of the moment, a sense of warmth permeated the air in an unusual way that many would have missed, gone unnoticed and forgotten.
 
The spirit and graciousness of the Orang Melayu of the region was at its best. The Sultan of Brunei and several members of his family were here, including many govt officials not reported, to show their respect to a man whose relationship with the palace were built over two generations as family friends. The bond was strong and lasting and valued by both families and people.
 
From the south, the Sukarnos, the Suhartos and the Yudhoyonos were all here. And so were the Jokowis and many present and past govt officials. They remembered the deeds of the man that was in the midst of interstate rivalry and friendship. They remembered him dearly and fondly as a good friend.
 
More remarkable were the leaders and royalties from the north. The love hate relationship between Malaysia and Singapore, between LKY and their leaders, the quarrels and bickering and at times personal acrimonies were set aside. With the passing of the man, the hatchet was buried, but more. The warmth relationship cultivated over the decades surfaced. At the end of the day, they were all like kampong boys growing up together, playing together and fighting over everything. But they were still childhood friends of the same kampong.
 
The Agung was here and so were the royalties. And the newly crowned Sultan of Johore was here, one day after his coronation, putting aside his busy schedule to show his respect to the man with many ups and downs in the relationship between the two states. Najib was here and so were Daim and many old friends and political foes.
 
The one that was dearly missed was Mahathir. The Malaysians expected him to come, no matter how bitter he fought with LKY, it was the man that he knew and worked with, like him or not was a separate matter. Mahathir missed the chance to show the world how big a man he could be. Abdul Samad, a very senior Malaysian politician of the same vintage was seen on Malaysian news chastising Mahathir for his lack of graciousness. He even reprimanded him for his slowness in coming out with his eulogy for LKY. There are times when personal rivalry should give way, take a back seat, to allow the warmth of human relationship to triumph.
 
The Orang Melayu of the region were extremely gracious and warmth and added a great sense of dignity to the occasion, to bid farewell to a kampong boy they knew a life time. Without the politicking and agitating, the Orang Melayu could make great friends that would last a life time.
 
The passing of the man they called friend and at times loved to hate marked a new chapter in the relationship of the people in the region. Hopefully the new leaders and future leaders could pick up a few goodness in being friends and political foes and graciousness while locked in political differences and rivalry. There is a man behind all the politicking, and there is friendship to be made and cherished, in the spirit of the Orang Melayu.

PS: There were signs of regret in Mahathir for the things he did to the man and he came close to saying sorry for the riots when Singapore was in Malaysia. There was an admission of guilt for the incident, a kind of telling the man, ok we did it. Let bygones be bygones. He must have deemed it necessary to set the record straight and close the chapter of finger pointing on who caused the riots.

CPF – From compulsory savings to compulsory taxation

It was meant to be compulsory savings for retirement. Now it is more like compulsory taxation by the govt. The latest clause that demands all Singaporeans who are overseas to pay for Medishield Life is as good as that. The govt does not care or bother you need the Medishield Life coverage as you may be away for 20 or 30 years or more, but you are legally required to pay up. The govt does to care if you are paying for another medical insurance in your domicile country and no need for the Medishield Life, it still wants you to pay, all because you are a Singapore citizen. If this is not compulsory taxation, what is? It even overides double taxations. At least double taxation could mean exempted from one country or paying one side. This one is so aloof, it doesn’t care what you are paying and how much you are paying or that you are paying for a better medical coverage, you pay up because you are a Singapore citizen. You are so blessed!
 
Who do you think benefits most from your compulsory saving/taxation? Obvious right? The first and biggest beneficiary from your compulsory saving/taxation must be the HDB. Here everyone would have to cough up at least $500k in his life time or more than a million to pay for ‘affordable’ public housing. Now you would have to pay a life time for Medishield and again who is the beneficiary? And whatever money left would be stucked in the two minimum sum schemes, to benefit who in the form of cheap loans? And the loans would only be repaid when you die or if you are alive, in small tokens. It means that you are extending a loan with your life savings to the govt until you die. And if you are stupid enough to will it to the CPF account of your loved ones, the loans could be extended in perpetuity. To benefit who?
 
Your compulsory savings are for whose benefits? Do the daft Sinkies know what is happening to their CPF savings? All their CPF savings kena tangkap for life! Does the PAP really believe that it do anything it wants with the people’s life savings and can get away with it without any serious repercussion in the GE, that the people do not mind, do not care and submissively accepted this fait accompli?

The Last Dance of a Racist Racialist Coward

Alimama vs Sinaman

By MIKOspace

A couple of weeks ago, it must have taken some daringness for Dr M to travel to Singapore to see and confirm for himself that MM Lee Kuan Yew has actually passed away and is really, really dead. Being a medical doctor, trained no less by Singapore’s best Medical School, he was quite convinced himself that LKY has indeed passed away.  Sadly, Dr M sighed with great relief before his narcissistic personality overwhelmed him and he decided to insult the better man by calling LKY “kiasu” during their years of dealings and negotiations.  

It was just amazing! Finally, Alimama could muster the courage to insult Sinaman in his face as the latter was laid to peaceful rest by his beloved Singaporeans.  Alimama had to be certain that Sinaman would not suddenly jump up to sue him, Dr M, for defamation or slander.  But just to be on the safe side, the coward Alimama only uttered his insults after Sinaman had been cremated.  And then, he only did so in the safe Malaysian town of Cyberjaya, nearly 300km from Sinaman’s Singapore.  Serious outstanding courage indeed, Dr M.

As Alimama boarded his plane to return home, he secretly hoped that his Malaysian people, whom he ruled as their 4^th Prime Minister from 1981-2003, would shower him with the same love and fame as Sinaman had received from Singaporeans in his life as in death.  It’s really a shame, Dr M, that the people you had so despised, deceived and divided by political and social racism over the years have left you so useless, empty and lonely. Dr M had repeatedly scolded, coaxed and prodded Malaysian Malays. They saw the truth in your eyes after you left office and sniped at all your successors from Tun Abdullah Badawi to the present Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak from the lofty Petronas Twin-Towers.

MM LKY said: “Dr M undermines his successors”.  MM Lee sees his role after stepping down as Prime Minister to be an advisor to the next generation of leaders. Taking up his new role seriously, he deferred to his successors, PM Goh CT and PM Lee HL, in all protocols, matters and manners.

It was already 1981 when Dr M became Malaysia’s Prime Minister, and where he remained the longest serving for 22 years.  It is therefore disingenuous when he said that MM LKY was still "coloured with bitterness" over Singapore's expulsion from Malaysia in 1965, some 17 years earlier. By 1975, Singapore had transformed into a thriving global metropolis when compared with still struggling 3^rd world Malaysia, who was then obsessed with implementing her racist pro-bumiputra social and economic policies.  MM LKY and Singapore have absolutely no regrets, let alone lingering bitterness, over separation from Malaysia, who continues to languish in the errors of her policies and drowning in the cesspits of prevalent corruptions that they spawned. 

To Dr M, the Malay race is inherently “backward” genetically.  In his controversial 1970 book “The Malay Dilemma”, he attributed the Malay’s “natural racial inferiority” to poor eugenics from their traditional habit of marrying first cousins which, according to him as a trained medical doctor, resulted in gene regression and resulted in the relatively greater social progress by the better intelligent Chinese.  Of course, Mahathir himself is not pure Malay racially but hailed from an Indian-Muslim (ie Alimama) ancestry that thereby enable him to claim and prospered from the privileged bumiputra status.  He therefore sees himself, a non-Malay, as the “Champion for the Malays”, and their political support of him for over 20 years further reinforced his belief in his “inferior” race supporters.

Malaysia’s problems are therefore mostly self-created and based on the flawed “inferior race theory”, and which was further expounded in the discredited thesis of Alimama himself.  The achievements of Singapore Malays confirm the lies and baselessness of the “inferior race theory” and affirm Singapore’s multiracial multicultural policies “regardless of race, language or religion” as the cornerstone of our development success.    

In fact, Dr M’s duplicity was clearly exposed to MM LKY and Singapore civil servants in the 2001-2002 Water Talks regarding the prices of raw water supply from Malaysia in the Water Agreements scheduled to expire in 2011 and 2061 respectively.  The raw water price was 3 M’sian sen per 1,000 gallon under the Agreements.

It was actually agreed between Dr M and MM LKY that the indicative raw water price would be 45 sen in return for agreement of water supply beyond the 2011 and 2061 expiry dates of the Agreements. The price was however shifted by Dr M repeatedly; first to 60 sen, to be backdated to 1986 and 1987 respectively, and also RM3 (3 Ringgits!) from 2007 to 2011; and from 2011 to adjust by inflation.  In September 2002, Dr M’s staff returned to ask for RM6.25 per 1000 gallon, a jump of 200-fold from RM3!  

In July 2002, Singapore announced the success of our Newater Project, and informed Malaysia that the Water Agreement expiring 2011 would not be renewed.  In December 2002, both country suspended discussions on the other Water Agreement expiring 2061. We are now self-sufficient in portable water supply.

Singaporeans can now understand why MM LKY had almost no direct dealings with Dr M from 2003 onwards.  We already know only too well that MM LKY does not suffer fools and idiots easily.  However, what MM LKY cannot tolerate is a blatantly dishonest, perfidious and untrustworthy person who cannot, will not and choose not to negotiate in good faith and not to adhere to his word.    

Singaporeans, especially the younger ones, can now better understand why Dr M was cautiously nervous, even apprehensive, when he arrived in Singapore 2 weeks ago. Understandably, Alimama clearly dread facing the live Sinaman in any straight and honest shootouts! 

As his plane was taking off from Singapore Changi Airport, Alimama looked back as if just to ascertain that neither Sinaman nor his pervasive indomitable air force was trailing behind. Quite fortunately, no. Running won't get you far, Dr M. You just cannot shake off the unmistakable and indisputable legacies of MM LKY in Singapore and the world. The spectre of Sinaman as the better and more honourable man will continue to haunt you, Alimama, forever.  Run, if you must; know that hiding is impossible, and escape is not an option, man.  Soon, everyone will die naturally.  With Sinaman now in the heavens; where do you think you could hide in eternity from him forever, Dr M?  Actually, there is that other place …..

Full Post:

Dr M and MM LKY: The Continuing Saga  

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