SEA Games budget $324.5m

This is the budget for the SEA Games and the organizers promised they would not exceed the budget this time. The last YOG was budgeted at $104m but finally cost more than $300m. Was the over spending due to inexperience or bad budgeting or just uncontrolled overspending? Anyway it is history. It must be good value for money spent.
 
With that experience, the current budget of $324.5m is just about there, about right. Not sure how is this computed, based on number of athletes or what? This SEA Games is for adults and they may need more in terms of food alone. Hope it is really enough and no more overspending.
 
With Leong Sze Hian somewhere in the mountain retreat, let me try to crunch some numbers here to see what it means. With 7000 athletes and officials, it would mean the Games will cost $46,300 per participants for the duration of 12 days. Or for each day, it will cost about $4,000 to host a participant. Cheap, quite cheap really.
 
If each participant were to spend $1,000 a day, the net loss will be $3,000 daily per participant. The break even should be for each participant to spend $4,000 daily during the Games duration. Of course the money is well spent for the publicity and goodwill generated. Now more people will know where is Singapore and how good Singapore is. They may migrate here to help us and to help us hit the 6.9m population target faster.
 
The overall picture is definitely money well spent. Oh, the participants need not have to choose whether to eat at the hawker centres, foodcourts or restaurants. The food quality is restaurant standard for sure. We have to play the good host and show them the hospitality of a first world country and standard. They will all return home with good memories of Singapore, the paradise on earth and would return, and return as tourists or future workers. Maybe they are our future PRs and citizens. This is called planning ahead and planting the seeds for the future. Oh, some may want to represent us and don our national colours, become our sporting citizens to bring glory to us.

PAP – The ground is sweet

A ST survey has convincingly announced that the ground is sweet for the PAP and this may prompt the PAP to call an early election. And from the comments by Hsien Loong, they are taking the findings of the survey very positively. There is a renewed confidence in the PAP camp that all is well. And you can’t blame them for being so confident.
Hsien Loong has pushed out his slate of leaders that are quite unbeatable in every way. The response from the public must be very encouraging. No one is saying anything bad about them, so must be good. Everyone is a talent and a leader in his own right and should be able to carry all the GRCs they are going to lead. The gloom and fear of getting the marching order like Aljunied GRC are history.
The position camp, particularly the WP, has been in a big struggle to get their accounts right in the AHPETC. They are so bogged down by the details that they have no time even to eat or sleep. The other opposition parties are also very quiet and not seem to be engaging the people other than the SDP. The SFP, a breath of fresh air and looking promising, has also cut down on their PR activities.
 
What about the grudging issues that were troubling the people? Where got issues? Since the days Roy and his friends were hauled up and charged in court, the CPF issue is no longer an issue. No one is talking about it anymore. This means that there is no issue and the people are happy with the state of their CPF savings.
 
And the people are so grateful with the MedishieldLife and the CPFLife providing coverage for their future needs. In addition to these two wonderful schemes, there is the Pioneer Generation Package that made all the pioneers smiling in glee. Everything is now a big discount and they are even spending more on medical needs and dental treatments, things they would not dare to at the old prices and without the discounts.
Public housing is also no longer an issue as the prices are now better than affordable. People with income of $1,000 can also buy a public flat. Where to find such good deals?
 
PMETs and foreigners too are non issues. Just adapt and get use to it. After a while the situation will become the new normal. Fake degrees, where got? If got fake degrees, they would have all been sent home. Our ministries are super efficient in law and order. And this is well known throughout the world. Foreigners coming here are all genuine degree holders and professionals and the most honest people in their countries. The cheats and fakes would not dare to be here to be caught and sent home.
 
Now, what else is an issue? Can’t think of any really. It is celebration time. The big bash in SG50 is around the corner. Everyone is gearing to party and parties are everywhere. The spirit is high. There is money everywhere. $324m for the SEA Games is chicken feat. You need money to celebrate and enjoy, just ask and shall be given.
 
This GE is going to be a walkover and a convincing win for the PAP. The voters will show their approval by giving them a bigger majority. Aljunied GRC, Hougang and Punggol East will be returned to the PAP fold. The PAP is delivering everything the people want and the people will reciprocate for such a good govt. The opposition parties are in hiding, fleeing, knowing their chances are as good as zilch.
 
Ouch! Stop throwing rotten eggs at me. I am telling the truth. I got the ST survey to prove that I am telling the truth. The survey would not lie. If you don’t believe, see when the election will be called. It will be very soon. The PAP is ready and is walking the ground. They are absolutely confident of a big win this time.
 
Where is the opposition? Where got public angst? No more complaints, no protests, all is fine. Everything will be back to normal after the next GE with PAP in control.

More good years and more good times.

Why no speak on fake degrees?

‘Under the PAP, it is inevitable that Singaporean graduates will compete with foreign ones from ‘reputable’ unis, many with bogus degrees. If Singaporeans do not demand accountability from the PAP at the polls, we will have 5 years to repent.’ Phillip Ang
Phillip Ang wrote an article title ‘ Bogus degrees – 5 years to repent if we do nothing’ posted in TRE.
 
In the article one could sense the frustration and exasperation of Phillip Ang, representing the unhappy voices of PMETs that were replaced by the degree mill foreigners. You could imagine him pulling at his hair in anger, that nothing seems to be done, no one seems to care or even want to talk about this sorry state of affair, less want to do anything about it.
 
Indifference, no accountability, tidak apa, seem to be what this issue is all about. Fake degree holders working here and displacing our poor PMETs from their jobs and depriving them from earning a decent income in a decent job is the new normal. There are more serious consequences in medical and engineering fields if the fakes were to be employed to treat the sick and involved in infrastructure projects. Phillip was screaming, those countries are infamous for their corrupt education systems and culture and in producing fake degrees. Didn’t anyone know or want to know?
 
These are valid questions. Everyone knows the shit is here, knows everything is so shitty it smells all over. No need any proof or investigation. Fakes and degree mills are the norm, anything else is an exception. You will have a hard time finding one with genuine degrees and job experience. That is how sick the situation has become that no one dares to poke his little finger in the pile of shit.
 
Then why the reticent, why turning the heads the other way? I venture to ask some employers about the fakes they are hiring. They gave me a cheeky smile. Corruption, corrupt practices? Fake degrees, degree mills, where got? Then with all seriousness he said, when in Rome do as the Romans do. I was taken aback.
 
Isn’t this Rome and the newcomers are to do as we do? That made him laughed crazily like he was going to be delirious. We are in Rome and we need to do and act like them. We have to adapt to be like them. This is Rome, their Rome, they are the Romans and corruption, fakes, cheats are the order of the day.
 
I was stunned by such clarity in perception of the new reality. Those who still believe in honesty, integrity, righteousness are living fossils, behind time and need to go the dodo way. To survive, one has to adapt to the new reality, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
 
Phillip, you got the idea?

Rohingyas - Sin City given second chance

In the late 70s and 80s, Singapore was faced with a serious threat from the Vietnamese boat people. Thousands of them were fleeing Vietnam and landing on our shores and the shores of neighbouring countries. We were caught between being merciful to the refugees or caring for our people. We have unemployment problems in the 70s. But more important, we knew then that we were only a tiny red dot and could not allow the refugees to flood the island. There were big countries that had the land to accommodate them. So we did the painful and morally difficult thing, by shoving them off our shores. We did our best to provide them with food, water and fuel and sent them off to their destiny.
 
We are a different kind of city. Today we are a big country, we can build and build, we can take in 10m or more people. Jobs are aplenty. We have full employment and we need manual workers. Now we are presented with a second chance, to save the new boat people, the new refugees, the Rohingyas. They are fleeing Myanmar, Bangladesh and India, in rickety boats like the Vietnamese in search of their promise land.
 
Many have died in their dangerous journey at sea, like the Vietnamese boat people. Many can be saved if the big countries are willing to take them in. Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia are all closing their doors to these boat people. They are so hear heartless. They don’t care.
 
Now we are given a second chance to show that we care, we can be generous. We have jobs for these people, we have land to house them, on the ground, above ground and underground. And one thing for sure, these people do not come with fake degrees and CVs. They come as they are, to fill the labour shortage in the construction industry, to be cleaners and sweepers, and maybe security guards. The only problem, they will provide more competition for our PMETs in these vocations, and don’t have to pay levies. They could not afford to.
 
So how, shall we bring them in since no countries want them and we need more labour and our country is so big, no longer a little red dot for $2m people. We will hit our 6.9m target faster and then go on to 10m and our economy will definitely boom again. So will demand for housing which is good for property prices. More demand for hawker centres and food courts and more shopping centres.
 
What do you think?

Monroe Doctrine in the South China Sea

The gist of the Monroe Doctrine is this, copied from Wikipedia, ‘The three main concepts of the doctrine—separate spheres of influence for the Americas and Europe, non-colonization, and non-intervention—were designed to signify a clear break between the New World and the autocratic realm of Europe. Monroe’s administration forewarned the imperial European powers against interfering in the affairs of the newly independent Latin American states or potential United States territories.
 
The Americans have been guarding their backyards, South America, as their special sphere of influence and no European countries or anyone else should be allowed to interfere in both North and South America. After its ascendency as the Number One Super Power, it has extended this to cover the whole world as its area of influence. No country can interfere in South America, but the Americans can poke its dirty fingers everywhere, and now they are going to poke in the South China Sea.
 
It is about time China follows the Indian Empire by declaring the East and South China Sea as its zones of influence, like the Indian Ocean to the Indians. It is only a matter of time before China pushes the Americans out of these two seas as it regains its military clout. The Americans would not want out and would want to extend the Monroe Doctrine to cover the rest of the world. They can only do it when it was the only Super Power and can use its military to coerce other lesser powers.
 
The geostrategic balance has changed. China is no pushover and has core interests to protect in the East and South China Seas and would put up a fight if forced to. The Americans have been provoking the other littoral states to confront China, but no one is stupid enough to want to engage in a war for the Americans except the semi colonies of the Empire. Japan is very eager, and so is the Philippines and to some extent Vietnam.
Who would be the cannon fodder should war break out between the US and China? Where would be the battle field of destruction? Most Asean states know it too well and would not want to be the proxies of American military aggression in the region. They can see how destructive a war can be if they got involved. And why should they be made used of by the Americans to fight and die for the Americans and get their countries and economies blasted to Stone Age?
 
In time, China would impose its own Monroe Doctrine on the Americans and tell the Americans to piss off to the Americas. The Americans don’t own the world and they should know that the world has changed. But the Americans would not go away without a fight. And this trip by John Kerry is to give notice to China that it wants to stay, and throwing its weight at China. China would have to say a firm No and to say it would fight if pushed to the wall. China would protect its core interests in its backyard just like the Americans would.
 
Who is the aggressor and the war monger? A thief calling China thief! The first time the Americans were kicked out of Asia was in Vietnam. Now it is going to be kicked further away by China. Would the average American boys and girls be willing to die for the islands in the South China Sea? What interest or relevance has these distant islands or rocks to their good life that they need to fight and die for half way round the world?
China has been trying to appease the Americans by saying the world is big enough for both of them. The Americans wanted the whole world for themselves and would not want to share with any country, not China.
 
It is Redcon One now. Don’t be deceived by Kerry’s smiling face in Beijing. He came with a sword. China got to thank Qian Xuesen and his good friend nuclear scientist YouLai that it too has the magical sword to prevent any adventurism by the Americans. Without the deterrence of the nuclear umbrella, you can bet the Americans will be running not only all over the South China Sea but also inside China and burning down Zhong Nan Hai.
 
The evil Empire is showing its hands.