Japan – Is it so difficult to apologise?

The Japanese are retracting on their apologies for their invasion, colonization and war atrocities to the countries that fell victims and the millions killed and maimed by them. They are asking how many times they must say sorry for their hideous crimes against the people of Asia and the destruction of their countries that set them back for many decades in development.

The answer, for as long as the Japanese remember their war dead in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for as long as they find it important to visit Yasukuni Shrine to honour their dead soldiers that committed the crimes of invasion. These were criminals of wars, invading countries, bombing, burning, looting, killing, raping and committed all kinds of cruelties against other people. If the Japanese do not think it necessary to stop worshipping them and honouring them, why should they not continue to apologise to the countries and people that were victims of these criminals and the destruction and death they brought to them?

If Japan can honour the war criminals annually, if Japan can remember their dead due to the Atomic Bombs, why is it so difficult to apologise for their crimes against humanity? For how long should Japan apologise?

For as long as the people of these countries could feel the pain and humiliation caused by the Japanese. For as long as the Japanese continue to honour the criminals of these acts. For as long as the Japanese start to forget their evil deeds and cruelties against their neighbouring countries. For as long as it needs to remind the Japanese not to think it is acceptable to go to war again.

GE2015 – Vote what you think is right

Hsien Loong made a passionate plea that he did everything that is right for the good of Singaporeans. Singaporeans may disagree with his policies but he did it in all honesty, for the good of all Singaporeans.  The people may continue to disagree, continue to be angry with his govt’s policies, but what can the people expect of the govt? How can they expect the govt to reverse course, to do things they, as the govt, think is wrong, not right? The govt, in all honesty, can only do things that the govt thinks is right. Tiok bo?

I just cannot imagine the govt starting to do things the people want and knowing that what the people want is wrong. It cannot be. So, what would the govt do after the GE? Would it continue with all the right policies, like more foreigners, more scholarships for foreigners, more good jobs for foreigners, more CPF locked up, more Medishield Life, more affordable housing, more public transport and less car ownership, higher ministerial pay, signing of CECA and more FTAs….? These are the right policies, and must be the right policies, and the govt honestly and sincerely believe are the right things to do.

It is just like people believing in their religions and their Gods. Every believer sincerely and honestly believes in his God and religion as the truth, the right thing to believe. But being a democratic and multi religious country, we also believe that everyone has the right to believe in his God and religion. The believers may disagree with other believers but never mind, you follow what you want to believe and what you think is right.

The people cannot expect the govt to believe in what the people believe is right. The people can believe in their own rights and choose to vote the people and parties that share the kind of right things they believe in. The govt does not force you to believe in what it thinks are the right things to do. In a democratic system, if you don’t agree, just vote them out. But if you vote the current govt back to power, the govt will continue to do what it thinks is right. That must be the case.

So, what should the people do? There is no need to get angry just because what the govt thinks is right is not what you think is right. You can vote people or parties that agree with what you think is right. It is unimaginable for any political party to do the wrong things, to do things they think are wrong. The people must be reasonable and logical. The voters should go to the polling station and calmly vote for the party that shares their belief and their God, sharing what they think is right and what they think is not right. The people cannot force a govt thinking it is doing the right thing to do the wrong thing.

Vote for what you think is right. The govt is right to do what it thinks is right. You don’t have to agree. No need to be angry. Vote with your heart and your head, vote honestly for your own good, not what other people think is good for you, unless you think you are stupid and other people are smarter than you and know what is right and good for you.

Think very carefully in this GE. It is like its now or never.

Petition to revoke CECA

Revoke CECA  Click here to the Petition

I have just signed the petition. Every Singaporean must put his signature to this petition to revoke it. It is extremely harmful to Singaporeans and our future existence as a people and country.


Key highlights of the CECA:

ARTICLE 9.3: GENERAL PRINCIPLES FOR GRANT OF TEMPORARY ENTRY

Movement of Natural Persons

Neither Party shall require labour market testing, economic needs testing or other procedures of similar effects as a condition for temporary entry in respect of natural persons upon whom the benefits of this Chapter are conferred.

The CECA enables Indian national PMETs no quota restriction on 127 highly skilled professions in Singapore and even granted spouses or dependants of these Indian nationals to work freely in Singapore.

The above two articles have very serious implications to Singaporean's competitiveness and employability and also to Singapore as a country.

And they are going to expand the CECA. Read more about it in TRE. Here is another quote from the same article,

News 2: More actions taken to enlarge CECA in 2015

Link: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-07-25/news/64850381_1_ceca-trade-potential-comprehensive-economic-co-operation-agreement

Negotiations on to upgrade CECA with India: Singapore

PTI Jul 25, 2015, 09.46PM IST
Singapore is keen to upgrade its existing Comprehensive Economic Co-operation Agreement (CECA) as the East Asian country wants to be a ‘partner’ in economic development here.

“We want to be a partner in India’s economic growth. We want a strategic partnership to deepen bilateral economic and people to people relations,” K Shanmugam, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Law of Singapore, said here today.


For your sake, for your children and grandchildren's sake, this is something you must do.

Redbean

Transport Ministry a high stress job

A former, Ho Kong Loon, wrote in Today paper saying that the Transport Minister worked tirelessly and deserves respite. I agree, seeing three Transport Ministers being bungled out of the job, this must be a very difficult job among all the ministries. And I don’t think any minister would dare to volunteer for this job. Would Boon Wan, the PAP magician and problem solver try to take this on? Or who would be the next poor minister to be assigned to this ministry after Lui?

Given that this is a difficult and troublesome job, I would like to offer a couple of suggestions to make this job more palatable. How about doubling the pay of this job? If this is not enough, raise it to the pay of the PM. That should make it worth while to risk career and reputable taking on this hazardous job.

You mean, raising the dignity not enough? How about raising the status with a fanciful job title like Emeritus Transport Minister? Or whoever given this job would concurrently hold the position of Dep PM? It is only fair that if a job is so difficult, it must deserve a just reward and recognition.

Come to the worst, rotate the job among the ministers. Everyone will sit on this hot seat for one year, then no one can hide in their cushy ministry and see the poor Transport Minister being hammered for doing a poor job that is not caused by him or for not working hard enough. This may be what they called work smart.

Ok, OK, my suggestions may be naïve, mediocre. As some clever people have suggested, split the jobs to smaller jobs to share around, to make the job easier. How can everyone be paid millions and some got easy jobs and some got to take on so difficult job? Not fair right?

What do you think?

Branding to win an election

Associate Professor Ang Swee Hoon wrote a piece in the Today paper on 12 Aug 15 titled ‘Of branding and relationship building’ with a subheading, ‘What marketing can teach political parties about winning votes’. Branding is important, and rightly PAP is the brand, the most recognizable and highest rated brand for the last few decades. WP is coming up and looking very good and credible.

PAP has been priming the brand to win votes for as many GE as there is to be counted in the island’s history. They had done well. The question today is whether the brand can continue to shine and to attract the votes it used to do or has it started to jade?

The other big question is that a brand is just a brand. If there is no substance, a brand can only hold on for that long. Nokia was the brand but no more. IBM and HP used to be the brand but no more. The PAP was the brand and delivered in the past. The barrage of yesterday’s news on TV is testament to the power and glory of PAP’s past achievements. Could the past glories of PAP be a factor to persuade the voters of today that PAP is a party for today and for the future?

In its heydays, putting a PAP badge on a dog would also get the dog elected. Has this changed?  In cyberspace, it is looking the other extreme. If that is true, the PAP brand is in for a beating in this GE.

What is the standing of the PAP brand today?  Has it lived up to its past records of uplifting the lives of the people and as Hsien Loong said, everyone is better off today under the PAP?  If PAP is still the brand, it will have no problem returning to power after the next GE. Or is it a brand on the wane, a brand of yesterday?