1MDB, Tony Pua and Bilahari Kausikan

The 1MDB affair has spilled over across the causeway with Bilahari calling the Malaysian Chinese delusional. And Tony Pua is furious and rebutted Bilahari just as furiously as he could. Sometimes such spate is unnecessary and uncalled for. When commenting about Malaysian politics, if possible it is better to be more discreet. A wrong word said or used could mean temperature shooting into the empty cans between the ears. For calling the Malaysian Chinese delusional, what did Bilahari hope to gain? I can see that he is trying to tell the Malaysian Chinese to back off and not to invite a May 13. The expected effect is exactly what Tony Pua did, mind your own business and don’t act smug.

In a way I agree with Bilahari that the game is over for the minorities in Malaysia. The Malays have absolute control over everything and their dominance is not only unchallengeable but cannot be challenged. The threat of the Red Shirts running amok, burning down Petaling Street and killing the people there must not to be taken lightly. And the another slightest provocation will lead to it. The fate of the minorities has been sealed long ago since the May 13 of 1969. That is the ultimate weapon and could be unleashed for the right or wrong reason, or for no reason.

The minorities in Malaysia can at best hope to have a more progressive Malay leadership that would work with them and tap on their industry and commercial skill to grow together to benefit the country and people. Pushing the boundaries of race and religion is inviting a massacre. Pushing for a non racial and religious issue would come to the same end. The minorities may want to think that 1MDB is not a racial or religious thing. I too agree with that. It is about bad govt and corruption. But by now they must have learnt their lesson, that anything can be changed into a race and religion thing. Even if it is not, they will make it so.

Malacca could be in chaos if the planned Red Shirt protest is shifted to downtown Malacca. Thanks to the police for killing it. And thanks to the Malaysian court for ruling that there is no wrongdoing in the 1MDB case. Najib’s position is now safe and has no reason for a diversion and a racial bloodbath.

The so called tussle for Malay leadership will go on. Let the Malays choose their leaders. The minorities can only watch from the sideline and give some support, but not to be seen as a force de majeure. They would be taken down, they will be turned into target number one.  The top political leadership will not change hands to the minorities for the next century or forever. That is Malaysia today and likely forever.

There is no need to huff and puff between Bilahari and Tony Pua. Venting anger and letting off steam would not change the realities in Malaysia. This is the new normal of Malaysian politics.

Singapore students brightest in the world

Can you believe it? Of course I can.  And not I said one. The Mypaper reported this on 8 Oct 15, ‘In a  programme this week, American television station CNN examined an official finding that named Singapore’s  secondary school students as the brightest in the world, by interviewing international experts.’ Can this be bluffing? No, Singaporean students have been consistently topping in international assessments and competitions and scoring very well in top American and British universities and universities across the world.

Only fools in Singapore believed that Singaporeans are talentless, no skill sets, unemployable and unfit to fill top management positions. Don’t ask me who are the fools? And they believe in the comments and remarks of 3^rd World trash that Singaporeans are unfit to work in Singapore and should be replaced by 3^rd World villagers that are mostly fakes and cheats.

I do not want to elaborate more. We have the best education system and universities but producing duds. How to explain that? Ask the fools. And our PMEs, with years of experience and track records to prove, are now only good enough to drive taxis or to be retrained to be counter sales people or security guards? How did this happen? Don’t ask me, ask the fools.

I believe the assessments of the experts mentioned above and we have all the track records to prove that our students are the best in the world. Not duds! So what is wrong? Either our universities and education system are so flawed and designed to produce duds, or our PMEs and graduates are being cheated in the employment market. And the fools continue to believe that the Singaporeans are daft and unemployable, and they will continue to go to the whole world to hire less talented people, cheats and fakes to replace our real talents.

The fools in Singapore believed in the fools of the 3^rd World and not in the talent of Singaporeans. Or I shall put it in another way, the fools in Singapore are easily conned by the fools of the 3^rd World.

This is Uniquely Singapore.

Uber and Grab taxis and Khaw Boon Wan

Gintai wrote an article about the new ‘pah ong chia’ or private taxis in the more sophisticated form of Uber and Grab taxis and why they are providing unfair competition to the rejected PMEs now driving govt licenced and control taxis that required them to take a Taxi Vocational Licence(TVL) test. To qualify for a TVL one must be a Singaporean and to take a crash course plus security vetting for criminal records.

The ‘pah ong chia’ drivers need not require to go through all the stringent processes and could simply drive their taxis under whatever rules or checks of these operators. No need to be citizens. Of course they claimed to check their track records too.

And no one could see anything wrong with these ‘pah ong chia’ drivers. It must be the right thing to do. It started in the West, so much be good. The West are doing it, so should be no problem. And this is another form of free enterprise, deregulation, free trade and all the jest. Finally we have someone who has a little commonsense to question this silly thing.

I only have one question. How many of you would put your parents, wives and children in a car driven by a total stranger, maybe not even Singaporean, whose track record or criminal record is not questioned? Or how many of you think it safe enough even for yourself to be driven around by an unknown  element where the authority has very little knowledge or control over them?

Are we so innocent and naïve to take personal safety so carelessly? The Singapore today is not the same Singapore of the past. We are in an open space for all and sundry to be here.

PS. If the drivers of Uber and Grab are subject to the same security regiment, and Singaporeans, then the issue is different.

Personal encounter in TTSH

I am not surprised with the outbreak of Hepatitis C at SGH. Sometime back I had some sudden lost of hearing problem in my left ear and was referred by Hougang Polyclinic to seek further advice in the ENT Department of Tan Tock Seng Hospital. The ENT doctor in TTSH who attended to me happened to be a foreign talent. After some checking of my ear I was told there was nothing wrong with my ears. So the ENT doctor recommended me for an MRI of the brain to rule out any tumour growth in my brain. I told the ENT doctor in charge of my case that I have a pace maker when he told me about sending me for an MRI. But on the day scheduled when I went for my MRI the radiologist was surprised when I told him that I ave a pace maker, because he could not find any note or statement regarding my pace maker. It is vitally important that a pace maker specialist must be arranged to stand by to monitor my pace maker before my MRI. Clearly the ENT doctor who recommended me for MRI negligently forgot to state in the form to the radiologist that I have a pace maker and therefore the radiologist could not conduct an MRI for me because it wasn't right to do so without the pace maker specialist standing by. I was later referred back to the same ENT doctor who apologised to me but then stated after all he is no longer sending me for MRI because it incurred risk. I thanked him but in my heart I really don't know what hubris he was talking or was he thinking of something else. Well, the ENT was a foreign talent. I nearly die in his hand.

Last month I suffered great giddiness or vertigo and was recommended by my outside GP to TTSH Emergency Admission . Can you imagine I was attended by another doctor of foreign origin . I spent the whole afternoon and night waiting for treatment. By the time I had to collect my medicine it was about 9.00pm. I was charged a total of slightly over hundred dollars. When I told the cashier that I am under the Pioneer Status and would like to pay through my Medisave. I was shocked to hear form her that in the emergency section pioneer status and medisave do not apply and so I had to pay either in cash or via Visa Credit Card. Subsequently I found out from a prominent Pharmacy that the anti-giddiness tablets I was prescribed cost only very much less than
a dollar . I am still in shock.

Suffering in Silence

This is a post from Ely

The return of the Sultans as a force of stability

Two days before the Conference of Rulers, the nine rulers of Malaysia issued a statement calling the govt to quickly conclude the investigations into the 1MDB affair. For almost two decades, the role of the Sultans was in eclipsed, their wings clipped by the notorious Mahathir whose political fortune was on the rise. Mahathir then was the undisputed and most powerful PM Malaysia ever had. He was the one to call the shot and had little respect for the rulers of Malaysia whose track records gave Mahathir a chance to clamp down on their powers.

In those days, Mahathir and UMNO were riding on a wave of Malay supremacy and popularity and stood on high moral grounds relative to the house of the rulers. Mahathir was able to chastise the rulers and in 1993 amended the Constitution to remove the rulers’ legal immunity. Mahathir was then at the peak of his power and no rulers could stand up to him.

Two decades today, the fate of Malay politicians and UMNO have changed with Mahathir out of the PM’s seat. The indiscretion and wayward ways of UMNO and its politicians have weakened their standing among the rakyat and the charges of corruption are so prevalent that the house of the royalties is looking like angels.

The 1MDB affair is looking so ridiculous that no matter what Najib and his peers tried to do, the matter just got worse. There is hardly any chance of Najib getting out of this fracas clean. Mahathir tried his best but not enough as he is no longer at his best. A stalemate kind of situation has been reached whereby Najib would still be the PM and no one could do anything about it.

This scenario is like two wounded lions fighting desperately to stay alive and here comes the hunter waiting for the kill. The royalties have kept themselves pretty clean for the last two decades and confidence in them have grown among the rakyat. And with the politicians falling all over among themselves, everyone as bad as the other, the royalties are now standing on high moral grounds to tell the politicians to shape up or get out.

The statement made by the house of rulers is quite unprecedented and a sign of the growing confidence and power of the royalties. They are back, to regain their rightful place in Malaysia politics. The politicians no longer can stand on solid ground to dispel the royalties for any wrongdoings. They are all up to their necks in deep water and are struggling to stay alive.

It is an opportune moment for the house of rulers to tell him who is boss and should be respected. The Constitution Amendments withdrawing the legal immunity of the rulers still stands. Such immunity shall be applied equally and the politicians shall not enjoy any immunity for any criminal acts. There shall be no legal immunity for the politicians.

The 1MDB must be settled quickly. The Red Shirts are not going to give up until they create a riot to create a diversion from 1MDB. And there is now another excuse to do in Malacca.  Some Malay immigration officers were assaulted by gangsters in downtown Malacca while conducting a raid in the area. Mohd Ali Baharom, a Red Shirt leader, is taking this opportunity to raise fear in downtown Malacca. He warned that 10,000 Red Shirts will descend upon downtown Malacca and it ‘will not be safe’. The police are going to question him. Just hope the police will do the same thing like in KL to prevent another racial riot.

Would the Malay rulers put pressure on the Red Shirts not to politicize the issue and turn the country upside down? The police should round up the gangsters in the assault. It is a police case, not a case for political rioting.