Tan Chuan Jin – Better to lie low

This is a comment posted in an article in TRE on what Chuan Jin said, ‘Minister Tan Chuan-Jin, who has been recently assigned to take over the Ministry for Social and Family Development from Chan Chun Sing, told residents at a community event yesterday (19 Apr) that the government’s work cuts across all constituencies, and all Singaporeans are meant to benefit from it, regardless of who they voted for.’ The comments following this post has reached 105 and counting. What is clear in these comments is that none of them believe a word that Chuan Jin said. Many were walloping him from left to right and reminding him of what the PAP represents and what some ministers had said and done to opposition constituencies. It is a pathetic effort to say the right thing but with no one believing it. It is worst when the listeners treated it as hogwash.
 
My advice to Chuan Jin is to talk less, I am not going to say rubbish, get out from the hot seat in MOM and enjoy a rest. Go carry babies and kiss babies like Chan Chun Sing did and lie low, lie very low and do not try to defend what is indefensible. Recently he has made several comments that were badly received. And the people were still furious why his ministry did not say or do anything about the IDA affair.
 
Do not say things that would spring back and hit straight in the face. It would not do any good to his poster boy image. It would harm him more and destroy whatever little credibility he has left. I must be truthful to say that his credibility is at the lowest in his short career.
 
If he does not believe what I said, I would invite him to read the comments in TRE. Please don’t waste time reading Reach if he wants to know the real ground feelings. And if he wants to do something during his last few days to salvage a little of the damage, go do something positive and serious in the IDA case that is burning across the social media. Everyone is waiting to see if he is real, if he is going to do something in the face of such an undisputable violation.
 
The ball is at Chuan Jin’s feet. Do something or keep quiet and get forgotten in MSF. Do not say things that will only enrage the angry mob that is rapidly losing faith in him.

Redbean Soup – The next best seller in the making!

I am half way through in the compilation of my book and have decided that the title shall be ‘Redbean Soup’. I think this is going to be a best seller with so many articles that are eye popping and jaw dropping.
 
I really enjoy the honour of having orders before the book is even written, a rarity reserved only for very established authors. And me only a blogger, not even a writer: ) Thank you for your faith in what is going into the book.
 
I am still talking to the publisher and targeting the book to be out by July. Hopefully earlier.
 
With the confirmation that the book will be published, I can continue to take orders now. Don’t miss out on this unusual best seller : )

More 'ang tau tng' serving.

South Africa witnessing anti foreigner rioting

Shops were burnt and looted. The South Africans were targeting the foreigners whom they accused of taking over their jobs and shops. According to Reuter, ‘a wave of anti-foreigner violence that has killed four people near the city of Durban threatened to spread, police said. South Africa has erected safe camps in Durban, a key port on South Africa’s Indian Ocean coast, for fleeing immigrants, whose shops were looted and burnt in the two-week old violence.’
 
Singapore is so blessed with a meek and law abiding citizenship that were wrongly accused of being xenophobic. The truth is that many were victims of bashing by the foreigners and racist comments reported in the main media. And the Singaporeans would just take the bashing and hoping that the law would be on their sides. If they dare to hit back they would have to face the law and a lawsuit would be costly. Many would choose to be the punching bag, not resisting or at best run away if they could.
 
Would the tolerance of foreigners and bashing by foreigners reach a state like in South Africa? No way. Singaporeans are too polite, too good, too timid, too small, to resort to violence. The recent riots were against Singaporeans in Little India with Singaporeans and the police ended up as the victims of the foreigners. Singaporeans would not riot against the foreigners. They love the foreigners. They want to integrate with the foreigners. They want to make the foreigners feel welcome here, have good jobs and be happy.
 
Please foreigners, be kind to the Singaporeans. They would not behave like the South Africans, riot and loot and burn the foreigners. Please treat the Singaporeans well, and if you have to bash them, be merciful, don’t hit too hard. The Singaporeans are physically small and weak and their bones would be broken quite easily. And please, do not riot or burn the shops. They belong to Singaporeans. Singaporeans are not xenophobic. If you are stupid enough not to know what is xenophobia, go and visit South Africa now. Then you will know how nice Singaporeans are to foreigners.
 
Now who is the next idiot who is going to stand up and accuse the Singaporeans for being xenophobic? Please send him to IMH.

Hope for another PM Lee

There were all kinds of mischievous speculations and troublesome remarks that there will be a third PM Lee after Hsien Loong. And the choice is between Hong Yi and Sheng Wu as the top candidate for the post. The grooming could have started and the ground being prepared. Chan Chun Sing was touted as another seat warmer to fill the gap while the two young men grow up and gain the necessary skills set to be a PM.
 
Most of these speculations and rumours were not well intended, a snipe at the possibility of the continuation of the Lee Dynasty. Ground feelings, as far as I know, is negative towards a third Lee as the PM. Somehow the thinking is that this should not be the case. A republic must not be turned into a dynasty and anyone would do except a Lee. It is not a case of how good the two young men would turn out to be. They have yet to show how good they are and to endear to the people. It is just a no no for a third Lee to replace Hsien Loong.
 
Wait a minute. Things are changing. Some were saying Singapore would be a better place, better governed, if Wei Ling were the chosen heir instead of Hsien Loong. She seems to have her heart in the right place. She could think simply and clearly, no silly nonsense. This is a gift that is likely to be inborn, to be able to see through the hypocrisies and pretensions of human beans.
 
Wei Ling is starting to endear to the people as a straight talking, no ‘bluffology’, no balls carrying kind. She said what she thought, pure and simple, right from the heart. Her latest comment on her father’s wish, not to build a personality cult, not to build silly monuments like the dictatorship of North Korea, is music to the ears of the people. It slapped very hard on the faces of hypocrisy and the unthinking and glory seeking, to want to flatter the legend and to look good and saying all the right things. In their scramble to be in the good books, falling all over one another, to build monuments to glorify the legend, they forgot what he was all about. And it takes a simple and clear mind, very exceptional when one is the daughter, with emotional attachments and sentiments, to say the right and proper thing, to fulfill the wishes of LKY. The man does not want a personality cult. Is that so difficult to understand?
 
There were some comments in the social media that Wei Ling would be welcome to join the opposition to do the right things for the country. And with here stature and accomplishment, I think she could be the one to bring the opposition parties together under one banner. And if she can do that, she would be the natural leader to be the PM if the opposition wins the next GE. She is the perfect candidate the opposition is waiting for. Never mind if she is another Lee. Never mind if she will be the third PM Lee, if she can do good instead of harm to the country and people.
 
What do you think?

Malaysia really screwing it up big time

The latest advice by Maybank about the oversupply of housing in Johore, first the Iskandar Economic Zone and now the Forest City built on 4 newly created islands with more housing available must be kind of like a thunderbolt. How are they going to sell anymore housing to the daft Sinkies? With the warning, no matter how daft the Sinkies are, they must know that things are not looking good. And there were talks of developers offering buy one get one free offer. Too good to be true or things are looking real bad, and developers are bailing out before they lost their pants?
 
The housing and commercial projects in Johore were really a very welcome initiatives and many Singaporeans were really salivating and wanting to cash out from Singapore, from their CPF, to move to Johore. There were so many comparative advantages that cannot be ignored. The advantages were real, not imaginery or fictional. It was a good deal, work in Singapore, live and rest in Johore. High income, good exchange rate, low cost, low property prices and cheap cars. The best of both worlds! The Malaysians have been enjoying it for so many years. Now Singaporeans too can have a bite of the cake.
 
Unfortunately good things don’t last. The warning by Maybank is sending shivers to many potential home buyers, even factory owners. And the developers must be trembling in fear. So much money pumped in and now the takers are fleeing. How man? What is happening man?
 
Why is Malaysia killing the golden goose before it lays its golden eggs? I can only see one reason, too many parties want a piece of the cake. The Johore royalties, the local govt, the federal govt, all must be looking at the piece of cheese like a hungry rat. Actually the Johore royalties have all the rights to get a big chunk of the pie. They started with the idea, authorized the projects, even as full participating investors. They deserved to have their profits.
 
But what about the local govt and federal govt? They would find their ways to carve a slice for themselves even undermining the whole concept that makes it viable. How could they be left out of the foodchain? Everyone in the chain must have his bite. Fair. But don’t take too big a bite that all the comparative advantages become disadvantages and turn a win, win project into a lose, lose project. The buyers are not taking the bite. The developers are losing their pants and the royalties falling flat on their faces if they don’t get the acts right.
 
Doesn’t anyone in Malaysia know simple economics or arithmatics? The buyers must have a good deal and the developers too must make their profits. The third parties, the vultures that do nothing, must be careful not to clean up the bones. This apparently is the case. If the Singaporeans, most likely the biggest group of buyers, can see benefits they would come in droves and just buy and buy, buying up everything. The present numbers could easily be absorbed if the conditions are good and make economic sense. When the cost or advantages become meaningless, what is the point? Why pay S$20 daily just to cross the causeway?
 
Singaporeans are daft. No doubt about it. But they cannot be so daft not to notice the advantages are no longer there. From now going forward the two projects would be hitting a stone wall. Well done Malaysia, for cutting your own nose when you could make a good killing and making both sides happy. You can’t believe that Singaporeans are so daft to empty their pockets in a lose, lose proposition right?
 
What’s next? Can the two projects be saved? Would they turn out to be short term mirages? Can the Malaysians work out the sums, make it attractive and make money from it? You can’t have the cake and eat it at the same time, and make the daft Sinkies pay for it? No way, in real life things are not as simple as this, stupid. You must creative value for the buyers. And don’t think you can continue to come out with nonsensical rules and regulations in the future to screw the daft Sinkies. They learnt and know the trick after a while.