Malaysian royalties – We are back!

A royal battle has started between the Crown Prince of Johore and the Tourism Minister Nazri Aziz after Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim commented about Najib’s absence from the 1MDB public forum.  Nazri was unhappy with Tunku Ismail’s comment as interference in politics and commented ‘the royalty was not above the law and should not comment on politics, “otherwise he will be subject to the same rule and we will whack him”’.  This has drawn a response from the Crown Prince saying ‘Do not think the people of this country exist to provide you with position and wealth; the positions exist for you to serve the people.’

A police report has been made against Nazri and he is now under police investigation. And Mahathir has come out in support of the Prince for freedom of expression. What is more important is the comment by the Sultan of Johore that Malaysia could learn from Singapore in its education policy. He reflected on the switch to teach mathematics and science in English and then back to Malay and how it has affected the performance of Malay students in these two subjects. Related to this is the lower proficiency of English among the Malays and the breakdown in national unity with the difference races attending different schools.

Would Nazri also think that this is another attempt by the royalty to be involved in politics? Since the removal of legal immunity by Mahathir in 1993, the royalties have taken a low profile in the politics of the country. Now both father and son of the Johore Royalty are in the limelight again. Would this mark the return of the royalties to play a bigger role in the politics of Malaysia? The timing is expedient with the politicians creating a mess of themselves and weakening their positions as the legal and moral authority of the country. This provides the royalties to stand on high moral ground to say their piece about what is happening to the country and to have a bigger say as rulers and protectors of the people.

How would this new dimension affect the political ethos of Malaysia? Would the royalties return as another force to be reckoned with after an eclipse of 20 years from the political affairs of the country. Would Mahathir and the royalties join hands in a new coalition of forces to take on the ruling govt? Such a possibility would put UMNO on the defensive and would further weaken its hold to power and the support of the Malay ground. It could mark the return of the royalties from the cold to the thick of Malaysian politics and a bigger influence in the affairs of the country.

What the hell was Kishore saying?

Last Saturday, 13 Jun, Kishore was thinking aloud in an ST article titled, ‘Trust the people, share govt data’.  In the article he praised the highly educated population and our world best education system only to contradict himself by saying we have the most ill informed population. How so, highly educated but not well informed? Then he went on to put the blame on the civil servants for their reluctance to share information. And he went on and on to lambast them about lack of transparency and how good it would be if the people are well informed and can make wise decisions in difficult times.

Did you people find the above strange? What was Kishore saying, or who was he referring to? He praised Hsien Loong for his call for more transparency and for ‘the public sector to cooperate with the IPS (Institute of Policy Studies) and to be forthcoming with information and access’ to information.  Is an insider like Kishore that naïve? Actually no, he knew what he was saying and he knew who he was addressing, who was the culprit that was depriving the people of information and transparency, but he had to go round the mulberry bush to be politically correct.

You see, Kishore also said that he likes to analyse issues as honest as possible, without the bulls. And he quoted LKY, GKS and Raja as his mentors, the kind of men that would not tolerate bullshit like he did above.  The most important lesson he learnt from the holy trinity is ‘to be brutally honest in analyzing problems and situations. Both of them (LKY and GKS) would prefer to confront an uncomfortable truth rather than accept a comfortable lie.’

Who is the real culprit that was depriving the people from information and being not transparent? The civil service? Kishore must be joking or living with a comfortable lie.  He knew the problem but could not say it out aloud. So he conveniently quoted Ho Kwon Ping’s called for more transparency and sharing of information and his suggestion for a Code on Information Disclosure. Who should abide by this Code to disclose and share information to keep the people informed?

Then he let the cat out of be bag without naming the culprit that is behind the non disclosure of information and transparency issue. ‘The big question we have to ask is: Can we trust our own population to make wise judgments with the information given to them?’ Who is this ‘We’?

Kishore concluded by saying that there was a need to change this culture of not sharing information. And he said it was good that the Govt was forming a Strategic Policy Unit to identify national priorities and action plans. Here is Kishore’s beef. ‘Perhaps one additional task that could be assigned to the SPU would be to change the culture of sharing information. We can and should do so.’

Here he used the word ‘We’ again. Who is this mysterious ‘We’?  Who did not trust the people and did not want to share information?

Khaw Boon Wan - HDB Lease Buyback Scheme a success

‘Through the Lease Buyback Scheme (LBS), the elderly living in HDB flats can use the tail-end of their flat leases to fund their retirement plan, without leaving their flats. Since LBS was launched in 2009, we have taken on board public feedback and made several enhancements to the scheme.

The latest enhancements took effect on 1 April 2015. We extended LBS to 4-room flats, raised the income ceiling from $3,000 to $10,000, offered varying leases, and allowed households with two or more owners to get more upfront cash.

The enhancements were well received. Over two months, 450 households applied for LBS. If all are successful, this will be a 50% increase over the 965 households currently participating under LBS.’ – Boon Wan

I cannot fault the Govt for all the schemes they have crafted to help the people that needed help to survive in the world’s most expensive city of millionaires. Some may find it strange that the Govt would have to come up with all kinds of things to help the millionaires and half millionaires to get by, including selling the only piece of worthy asset they have. And this LBS is getting more successful by the day with more and more half millionaires hooking up to the scheme.

I am sure all the generous schemes to help the poor millionaires are also very successful. The queues for free abalone porridge or free chicken rice must also be very long and very successful. The queues for handouts must also be very long and a good thing to celebrate, another successful govt aid scheme. Last night the queue at MRT stations for a $50 top up was so successful that MRT stations were packed and some scenes were quite chaotic with the oldies frantically pushing to get their $50 in case they missed it.

From another angle, I look at these successful schemes as a failure in our society, where people are in desperate needs for help, all kinds of help that the Govt can offer. I would rather celebrate when all the Govt assistance schemes failed, made redundant, in the sense that the people did not need them, that the people are wealthy or comfortable enough to be on their own, without having to depend on Govt assistance schemes. The more Govt assistance schemes available, the more successful they are in terms of recipients and people hoping and needing assistance, the more it is a sign of a failed society.

Why would a city of millionaires and half millionaires be seeking Govt assistance schemes and willing to queue in public to tell the world that they need handouts, charity and assistance, that they are failures in life? In this sense, I hope to see that all the Govt assistance schemes are not well attended and not well received or even rejected by the people as the people are comfortable enough not to have to beg and queue for such schemes.

When all these schemes are successful, it is not something to crow about, to be proud of, not something to cheer about like winning gold in the SEA Games. It is a sign of failure to improve the well being of the people, to spread wealth and affluence to the people.

When the pawn shops are doing roaring business and more new pawn shops are sprouting up the HDB estates, it is bad, it is not something to claim credit for.

Am I crazy to say this?

American madhatters

Pivot Insanity: Why US Goading China?

MIKE WHITNEY | Saturday, May 30, 2015,

http://globalbalita.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/US-troop-deployment-in-Asia-Pacific.jpg  

‘US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter is willing to risk a war with China in order to defend “freedom of navigation” in the South China Sea. Speaking in Honolulu, Hawaii on Wednesday, Carter issued his “most forceful” warning yet, demanding “an immediate and lasting halt to land reclamation” by China in the disputed Spratly Islands.  

Carter said: “There should be no mistake: The United States will fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as we do all around the world.” He also added that the United States intended to remain “the principal security power in the Asia-Pacific for decades to come.”  

In order to show Chinese leaders “who’s the boss”, Carter has threatened to deploy US warships and surveillance aircraft to within twelve miles of the islands that China claims are within their territorial waters. Not surprisingly, the US is challenging China under the provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, a document the US has stubbornly refused to ratify. But that’s neither here nor there for the bellicose Carter whose insatiable appetite for confrontation makes him the most reckless Sec-Def since Donald Rumsfeld….’

 

Mike Whitney called Ash Carter a madhatter not for no reasons. We taught George Bush Junior and Donald Rumsfeld were bad. Now the combination of Obama and Carter is going to make them look like angels. Bush and Rumsfeld took on countries that cannot hit back and for the control of oil. This Ash Carter, with his mouth in his anus, is thinking to taking on China, a country that not only can hit back, but can nuclear the US homeland as well. Sure, the Americans got a bigger dick and many dicks. But one good dick is enough to KO the Americans.

These two madhatters are playing with fire in the name of freedom of navigation when not a single ship of any nationalities has encountered problems navigating the South China Sea. And the Americans got no reason to be plying in the Chinese claimed islands but insisted on sailing there to tell the Chinese who is boss and who is in control of the South China Sea.

All those asses that are still siding with the madhatters, that the Americans are a peace loving country need to go and see the shrink. The Americans like this Carter is saying, is all about power and hegemony. The Americans want to be “the principal security power in the Asia-Pacific for decades to come.” It has nothing to do about freedom of navigation. It has nothing to do about protecting the interests of SE Asian countries. It is about Pax Americana!

And failing to snook the SE Asian countries into a war they did not want, the Americans are tearing off their mask of innocence and warning the Chinese that it would be war. The world’s Number One warmonger has spoken. No one believes in their hype on threats to freedom of navigation.

It is Redcon 3 in the South China Sea.  The gangsters are ready for a fight to bring war to the region. What pivot to Asia? The Americans do not come for peace but war.

Singapore should be confident to hire the best in the world

The issue of Singapore for Singaporeans is raised again in the ST on 15 Jun. And as usual, Singaporeans were told to be brave to employ the best from the world and not by nationalities. This is the same message that a blogger in my blog who thinks damn highly of himself has been spreading. Just because he is lucky and got to a slightly better position he thinks this is the right thing to do, hire the best not based on nationalities. These smug asses would not even know if his father and mother were sold to the dogs. They think they would stand a chance against the best of the world!

The statistics say there are 3m Singaporeans against 6b people out there, if hiring is based on merit, the best Sinkies would be replaced by the foreign best with the wink of the eye. The best in the world are not only the best but too many to reckon with. Please, don’t talk like a fool and still thinking that you are smart. Singaporeans do not stand a chance to compete with the best in the world. Even the call for a level playing field shows how naïve daft Sinkies are. You don’t compete with the rest of the world on a level playing field in your own country. No country does that except silly countries and silly people waiting to be replaced by foreigners and chased out of their own country.

As it is, Singaporeans are already being made fools of, hassled and cheated by people from the 3^rd world, by fakes and people with no university educations. How are they going to compete with the real talents when they could not even measure up to the fakes and cheats?

How many Singaporeans out there still think they will be holding on to their jobs or be sacked if the Govt really practices this policy of hiring the best from the world based on merit? How many in the political leadership would be there to enjoy talking nonsense if political leadership is open to the best in the world?

Are Sinkies that daft? You tell me. No they are not daft, especially the successful ones. They think and believe they are as good or betterer than the best in the world. This is the height of lunacy.

To say Singaporeans are stupid is to underestimate their stupidity.