China – the demon fabricated by the West

Angela Poh Ming Yan, a Ph D student at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies made this comment in her article, ‘For China, it’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t’, in the ST on 4 Jun 15, ‘To Beijing, the uneasiness and reluctance of regional countries to jump onto the Chinese economic bandwagon is mystifying.’

In a similar vein George Yeo commented that China’s intentions were often misunderstood. George was speaking at a public forum on Asia organized by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies on 3 Jun 15. ‘China does not intend to subordinate the economic strategies of other countries to its own and is misunderstood by others…the historical basis of the Silk Road…was “not on the basis that we must be the same, or that my values become yours or your values become mine”… instead it was “on the basis that we protect trade and property and there’s a fair exchange, value is added, there’s a positive sum, we all add benefit in the process”’.

While Angela Poh was wondering aloud that whether China do or don’t do it would be damned, George said, ‘Let’s hope that good sense will prevail, that the greater sense will be on all the benefits of exchange. And if you can recreate the prosperity brought about by the Maritime Silk Road, I think all these things will be set in perspective.’

Both were just being too polite to name the devil for demonizing China over a few centuries by the West that the name China is synonymous with evil, expansionism, aggressor, bullying but the reality was just the reversed. If the Asian countries would bother to think and look carefully, they would know who is the real bully, the expansionist power, the warmonger and the evil empire?  Since the eclipse of China as the richest nation of the past, China was a victim of Western aggression and conquest and humiliation. China was broken up, its land seized, and its wealth stolen. China is just picking up the pieces and trying to put together what was rightly part of China without claiming an inch of what does not belong to her.

The West, the western media and the Evil Empire have been relentless in putting down China when obvious economic initiatives like the Silk Road, AIIB, trade and infrastructure development with the rest of the world were branded as bad as if China was conquering its trading partners with a gun and taking advantage of their haplessness like the West did in the past and still doing. The Americans are the one that were starting wars and fighting wars, bully every country that did not want to tow the line, including bullying China by the use of might, but China was blamed as the bad guy.

How so, just read the local papers with all the western slanted articles against China used to feed the dull and unthinking mind of the masses. And this is repeated in all Asian countries. How could they not have a bad image of China like the way they demonized Iran and North Korea daily? Maybe George should ask the local media why they are paying for western biased articles against China when the sources of such articles should be paying them handsomely for the right to put their propaganda on their pages to do damage to China and other countries they chose to rubbish and demonise.

If Channel News Asia has the cow sense to use indigenous staff to report news of their respective countries from their own perspectives and for their own interests, should not the local media do likewise instead of paying to report news from the western perspective and to promote western interests and to dig and ridicule Asian countries with their slanted views and opinions?

What say you, George?

Quotable Quote: Amos Yee 2 Jun 15

“And yes, to the chagrin of numerous people, I have not ‘learnt my lesson’, nor do I see any ‘lesson’ that needs to be learnt. If you are going to try to tower over me and say that you know something important that that I don’t, make sure you have a compelling argument for that. And if your lessons are borne from a corrupt, archaic Government lead by primitive monkeys,…then sorry if I doubt the credibility of your ‘lessons’.

Hopefully history eventually vindicates me. But as of now, district judge Jasvender Kaur has deemed me guilty and the Prosecutor does in fact feel, that 30 months of a place worst than Prison (RTC) should be given to a boy who has posted an internet video. Unless you do in fact relish in my misery, I hope both of you will be able to sleep at night, and live with the fact that right now, as it is written in the annals of history, my blood is on your hands.”

I am not going to say that this is a plea by Amos to the authority nor is it a statement of defiance. They are the words of a young boy facing the State and all its machinery for something that he posted in the youtube that is not politically right or acceptable.

What has happened now is a boy being charged and waiting for sentence for an ‘offence’ and the issue is how serious would the punishment be like. The prosecution has been making recommendations to reform the boy with the assumption that the medicine is fit for the patient and the patient would be a good and nice boy at the end of the reformative regime.

Many people have many different views and so has the boy victim. Are the adults wiser or the boy? What is right and righteous today may not be right and righteous tomorrow. The boy in his philosophical way is leaving it to the future to vindicate him and set him free from the righteous people that are all so good hearted to want to save him and would rightly deserve a place in heaven for their good deeds and intent.

What would the future said of this case? And why would the boy commented that he wish them to be able to sleep well at night and would be at peace with themselves as they live their lives? Is there a war of conscience at work? Who is pricking whose conscience?

There is this lonely feeling that the whole world of conscience has deserted this boy. He is all alone to face the music. There is a sense of helplessness in him. They say, the good shall triumph over evil. Which is good and which is evil may be a matter of subjectivity. Right and wrong is no longer so simple and straightforward.

What do you think?

Cheng Bock and 40 ex PAP MPs to stand for WP

This came from Tan Kin Lian’s post in he TRE titled ‘Nice to hear cabby said PAP to lose 4 GRCs’. And Kin Lian added this, ‘His taxi driver friends had privileged information that Dr TCB and 40 ex PAP leaders will contest under the Workers Party banner. Wow! He made the statements in a most convincing manner. He believed in the reliability of his source. His friends had attended meetings where these matters were discussed.’
 
OK, don’t get over excited by this piece of news. I know it is very sexy. Kin Lian also commented that it is likely to be a rumour. So it is unlikely to be true. But there is a likelihood that it was true because he did not said it is definitely a rumour but likely to be a rumour.
 
How true could this be? In the days when the Oracle is still around this is a definite NO. Who would dare to go against the Oracle and stare him in his face. So, now that he is gone, the possibility cannot be totally ruled out. And there are good reasons for this to be a possibility.
 
Remember, the PAP started very well with many pro people policies that warned the support of the people. Those days it was called winning the hearts and minds of the masses. And they did. And the ex PAP members were the ones that did that. These people have the right thinking and have their hearts in the right place. They are different. If not they would not be able to win the support of the people for so long. If not Singapore would not be what it is today.
 
If there are 40 ex PAP MPs willing to stand with the WP, the game is over. There is no where the young newbies could stand a chance against the seasoned oldies that did it, who had done that, whose great works should be rightly accredited to them, not to the newbies who have done what? All the gloating of the PAP were the achievements of the past by the ex PAP MPs and pioneer leaders.
 
So, if this is true, I also find it difficult to believe, yes, it will be game over. But I also agree with Kin Lian that even if it is not true, it is nice to hear about it. It is a pleasant dream even in broad daylight.
 
Maybe the opposition parties should take the cue and work on these ex PAP MPs, the good men and women of yore.

China’s appeasement policy towards the US is an invitation to war

The Chinese have been appeasing the Americans while the latter continue to rake up tension by more provocative actions and words. Coming from across the Pacific Ocean to the heart of Chinese territories in the South China Sea, the Americans are flying their military aircraft and naval ships close to Chinese islands. These provocations have been swallowed by the Chinese without retaliation. By so doing, the Chinese are only encouraging the Americans to be more adventurous, taking the meek response from the Chinese as signs of weakness.
 
Even at the Shangri La Dialogue, the Americans were so arrogant as to tell the Chinese to stop reclamation work in Chinese islands immediately. What would the Americans say or do if the Chinese were to tell them to stop reclamation work in American controlled Pacific islands? China’s response to such aggressive talks was expected, conciliatory and polite, not wanting to confront or challenge the Americans directly. This is another sign of weakness in the face of rude provocations by the Americans, and this is bad for peace when dealing with the world’s hegemon, the Number One bully.
 
China has not learnt its lessons from the 19th and early 20th Centuries when weaknesses would invite aggression and invasion by the foreign powers. The Japanese even told the Chinese right in the face then that it was the Chinese fault for being weak that led to the Japanese invasion of China. And if China is going to continue to show its weak front, history is going to repeat itself. The Americans and the Japanese would be more tempted to mount an attack against China with the slightest excuse they could fabricate.
 
When dealing with bullies and aggressive countries, China must be strong enough to meet might with might. The Americans and Japanese would only back off if China shows the resolve and confidence to take them head on. Just like the U 2 incursions into China in the past, the Americans only stopped their intrusion when China was able to knock them off from the sky.
 
But events have since taken a turn for the worst with the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade and the B52 nuclear bombers flying straight into China but not taken down. Both were acts of war and the latter with the threats of dropping nuclear bombs in China cannot be accepted or tolerated. Both showed signs of weakness on the part of China and raised the level of it being attacked and harassed over and over again.
 
The time has come for China to knock down a few of the Poseidons if it wants to keep the bullies from more provocative acts in the South China Sea. There is no other way, and being meek, appeasement, would only lead to a war that China wants to avoid. If the Americans and the Japanese are intent to start a war against China, China must not run away. China has to make a stand now, that it would take them on in the next provocative move.
 
China needs a Code of Conduct for the Americans and the Japanese, that if they do such and such an act, the Chinese response would be such and such. It must be made very clear to these provocateurs that it is up to it to take them on and would not run away the next time, if it wants to avoid a war with them.

What kind of Singaporean core do you want?

Do you want a Singaporean core at the bottom worker’s level, a core in middle management, or a core at top management? Or do you just want a Singaporean core at the political leadership level?
 
There can be many permutations to this choice really. How about a Singaporean core at the political leadership level and a core at the worker’s level and the rest to be filled by any ‘chapalan’ foreigners? Or do you want a Singaporean core at the political leader’s level plus top management and the rest leave it to the foreigners? Just add to the variations and see which is best for the interests of the Singaporeans, or for the interests of the elite, or for the interests of the foreigners.
 
I hope Swee Say is not talking about a Singaporean core at the worker’s level plus a core at the political leadership and the middle and top management levels can be offered to the foreigners on a silver platter. Let’s wait to hear from him or any other minister or the PM himself on what should be the best combination for a Singaporean core.
 
And there could also be variation at different levels like at the worker’s level the Singaporean core should be the supervisory ranks while the worker bees and ants be left to the foreigners or is it the other way round.
 
What would be a bad combination against the interests of Singaporeans? It is easy to talk about core but it can be a rotten core or a smelly core that may not be good to Singaporeans. Don’t simply think talking about a core must be good to Singaporeans. Look at the real core in practice and see what it really meant.
 
I am not encouraged by a Singaporean core at the worker’s level. What do you think? I think if this materialized then it would be a sad day for Singaporeans.