SDP at Marsiling Yew Tee

I delivered some Red Bean Soup to a few friends and bumped into the SDP Team preparing for their evening home visit to the residents of Marsiling Yew Tee. They were organised and enthusiastic in volunteering their time to the party, no free transport, no free chicken rice. The mode was optimism, joyful and all for a good cause.

Black Knights SG50 at Marina Barrage

Oh yes, the main performance was the logo of Sing First up in the sky, a big heart drawn by the Black Knights. What an omen of things to come.

MH370 – Grasping at straws from a man made straw man

The confirmation of the flaperon found in Reunion Island does not come as a surprise to anyone. It is just as good to confirm that the plane is gone and the passengers as well. What is funny and definitely uncomplimentary is the ongoings to confirm a farce that was a farce from the very beginning.

Let me quote a few paragraph from a Bloomberg report dated 6 Aug.

‘The absence of debris from the crash has confounded investigators. Previous crashes in water have almost always left floating debris, the bureau said in a briefing note on its website on Wednesday.

Much of that debris could have sunk by the time the surface search began in that area nine days after the plane disappeared.  

"By this time much of any debris left floating after the crash would likely have either sunk or have been dispersed," the bureau wrote. "The opportunity to locate and recover debris from the sea surface diminishes rapidly over the first few weeks from the time of a crash."

Investigators scanned 4.6 million square kilometres of ocean surface, with 29 aircraft carrying out 334 flights and 14 ships on the sea as part of the operation, Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said at a press conference in May.  

The search "initially, briefly, targeted the correct area," the bureau said on Wednesday, adding that this was the best chance investigators had to recover material….’

The search parties searched 4.6m square km of ocean but could not find a single debris and they said they targeted the correct area? Oops, they qualified by saying initially. For such a huge aircraft to crash into the sea, there must be plenty of debris floating around. When they could not locate a single piece it obviously said they were looking at the wrong area. And they even tried to convince the world that they did simulation of current to confirm that the wreckage originated from where they were searching!

When would they admit that someone had told a white lie and conned everyone to search in the wrong place? And Australia would stand up again to tell the world that they knew everything.

The appearance of these few pieces of debris is just as mysterious as the disappearance of the aircraft. Nothing fishy? No one smells anything amiss? Or was it concocted, just as planned and executed like the disappearance of MH370  to throw everyone into disarray for another year?

GE2015 – Order in disorder

This GE is going to be a very different GE from the past. Many things have changed, many variables have been taken out from the equation. There used to be disorder in the opposition camp and they would end up fight among themselves to see who would keep the deposit and who would claim to have done well for keeping their deposits. Winning was not in their minds other than participating in a general election for the sake of participation. Losing was a certainty and they kept going at losing by indulging in multi corner fights.

The fear of the same thing happening seems to be over after the second meeting of the opposition camp. They have more or less carved out the electoral map and decided who would contest in which GRC and single wards. Other than a three, 1 single ward and two GRCs, the rest of the field have been settled. Even then, the likelihood of an amicable solution is quite likely as can be seen by SPP and DPP closing rank to take Bishan Toa Payoh together. SingFirst and Reform Party may adopt the same formula to field a combined team in Ang Mo Kio. Such an option would see the two parties putting up their strongest candidates for the contest instead of the nothing to lose suicide squad in the past.

Yes, the opposition parties would be fielding their best candidates in this GE without over stretching themselves and putting up weak candidates for the sake of standing for an election. Without going for broke or trying to prove how many candidates they could field like the in past, they are saving their best ammunition for a real crack at the seats available. Every party will be choosing their candidates very carefully to make every man counts.

One positive outcome is that Ang Mo Kio will have a real contest if the Reform Party and SingFirst were to join forces and put up their best candidates for the job. This time Hsien Loong is not going to have it easy as before when only the unknowns were put up more like sacrificial lamb. In this GE, the sacrificial lambs or suicide squads, the no hoppers or nothing to lose candidates, would likely come from the PAP in WP held wards.

Every opposition party would put up their best for this election as they consolidated their strength to avoid 3 corner fights. This has turned out to be a good thing, with the opposition parties finally wised up to the challenge. They would still be a handful of wild cards who would think they can win in a 3 corner fights in single wards. What is their real motivation is anyone’s guesses but they will be seen as the spoilers to the party. Thankfully this will not be the norm and the main contest to be in Parliament will be as serious as it can be.

Let’s hope there will not be any nasty surprises during Nomination Day and no kelongs. It would be very painful to see parties given a GRC to contest but put up a dud team to compete, as good as giving a walkover to the ruling party.

The politics of AHPETC

AHPETC has been dragged into court not because a crime has been committed but over procedural matters and unacceptable management practices. And the court seems to be questioning itself why they are involved in this case. Shouldn’t it be a matter that the Minister of National Development could deal with it summarily?

The ding dongs in the courts of law mean that the judges would be kept very busy trying to judge something that they are not sure if they should be judging. It means the courts time would be taken up instead of allowing other criminal cases to be heard. It also means that the AHPETC would have to engage lawyers for its defence and to spend money on it. Would the money come from the WP or AHPETC? And the WP politicians involved would be kept busy trying to absolve themselves from blame.

The same question I would like to put forth, why are politicians elected to run town councils and be directly responsible for the administrative matters of a town council? Shouldn’t this be the jobs of full time civil servants or statutory boards? Politicians are the least appropriate to run a permanent organization that is supposed to run continuously no matter which political party is in power. The daily operating function of a town council is an administrative function, not a political function or responsibility.

Why burden politicians to be the administrator of a statutory organization running essential services? And why compromise the proper and smooth functioning of town councils and the efficiency of running an estate with politicians and depriving them from performing their roles as law maker? Running town councils should not be subject to the unpredictability of the election processes. There must be continuity and permanence of tenure and the expertise and dedication of permanent staff.

Politicians should be free from the responsibility of running a town council. It is not what they are supposed to do. It is not what they are elected to do. Their primary duty is law making and making sure all the service providers provide decent and efficient service to the people in their respective constituency. Their role should be like the Transport Minister overseeing the functions and operations of the train and bus services or other ministers overseeing other essential services. If the Ministers are not satisfied, they can express their unhappiness and demand the operators to buck up without themselves being asked to buck up and be nailed.