Two ego maniacs with a common misplaced mission

An article by a Philip Stephens titled ‘China spurs Modi’s pivot to Washington’ appeared in the Today paper on 12 Oct 15. It had a subtitle, ‘US is vital guarantor of Indian effort to check Chinese power’ to emphasise what is important to Obama and Modi. The article reviewed the big power ambition of two countries, one a fading empire and another an aspiring one, and in both fearing the rise of China as a superpower.

In the case of the Americans, it is a case of I am the number One super power and China must not be allowed to usurp or challenge that position. In the case of the Indians, China is getting too power and would swallow up India or over shadow India, so must lean on the Americans as a counter force. While both countries are obsessed in their paranoia of grandeur and power, does China bother?

While China has been boosting its defence capability, it is in no position to challenge the Americans militarily for the next generation or two. As long as China is strong enough to prevent the Americans from behaving madly, thinking that they can strike at China at will with impunity, China is safe and has no intent to compete with the Americans to build all the aircraft carriers and a nuclear arsenal to match. It would be wasteful spending of money and resources that can be put to better use. China would be happy to let the Americans spent its way to bankruptcy on weapons of war. That is the safest and most economical way to challenge American supremacy, in the economic front.

While the Indians are having nightmares and self delusion of a China marching across the Himalayas, and scurrying to buy and built more military hardware, building military alliances, China is oblivious to the Indian hallucination. China does not bother and will not be bothered by this ambitious upstart and its tantrums. China will continue to expand trade and economic developments around the world, building infrastructures in every corner of the earth and gain influence and economic power. Why would China waste any time and resources with an India trapped in its own imaginations of greatness and big power ambition?

India and the USA can continue to pursue their military objectives and feel good about their military alliance and acquiring more military hardware. China would not have anything to do with them as economic growth is China’s top priority.

The big gangster and the regional gangster can share their dreams and nightmares and spend time and resources worrying themselves sick. It does not matter a wee bit to China. The raising of tension in the South China Sea by the Americans’ intent to sail close to Chinese islands is the most serious threat and a flare up is highly possible. China would not take the American provocation at its doorstep meekly and a robust response is expected. China has a big range of actions it could take, including flying fighter aircraft over the American ships, radar tracking and locking on the targets, aiming anti ship missiles at the Americans and ramming American ships with fishing boats.

Basically with such hostile provocations by the Americans, China must react to protect its territorial rights. On the other hand it is about time China tells the Hongkong government to send the Pinoys working in the island bak ot the Philippines and stop buying Pinoy bananas and other agricultural products.

Retaliatory measures would only escalate in the South China Sea and the best hope China can bet on is the rising tension in Syria, Middle East and Afghanistan to keep the Americans busy. And to add to the icing, more protests from the Okinawans against American military presence in Okinawa and risking the island as the top priority target in a war, to be nucleared.

‘Move you Asian *****’

Briton Joshua Powell Koke, 24, a pilot with Jetstar, was fined $5000 for punching a 18 year old student, Dxxxx Oxxxxxx Mxxxxx. The incident happened in the wee hours of the morning at Raffles Place Building. Koke had finished a quarter bottle of Vodka at 1 Altitdue Bar. The victim and his friends, several ladies in high heels, were blocking the path of Koke in the stairway.

The group moved slowly as the girls were wearing heels and Koke shouted, ‘move you Asian *****’ and that started a verbal dispute between the two groups. Koke than punched and hit the student.

ST reoorted that ‘DPP Yong did not press for a jail term but noted Kpke had consumed alcohol and was physically and verbally aggressive towards the victim.’

It is right that such valuable foreign talent must not be ill treated even if they misbehaved and are fond to spout ‘Asian *****’. Not sure what that ‘*****’ meant but must be complimentary. He is unlikely to be sacked though his lawyer said ‘Koke has suffered mental distress as the case could mean termination by his airline’.  Let’s be kind to these talents. Spouting words like ‘Asian *****’ is second nature and nothing to it. Asians, especially the ‘*****’ are used to it and love to be seen in their company.

We must not be too harsh to them or they would not come here to grow our economy. For the sake of growth, let’s welcome them and integrate more with them.

Case closed.

Singapore in 2015 World Universities Rankings Fraud … AGAIN!

WHY Do We Continue to Risk Our Brand of Honesty, Trust-worthiness, Reliability, Integrity, Probity and Incorruptibility?

By MIKOspace

Have we no shame?  No sense of decency?

Is this the way to Honour our Late Founding Mentor LKY?

Is this the manner to celebrate 50 years of Authenticity and Integrity?

Are we so Unthinkingly STUPID and DESPERATE to allow those who tweaked their “Criteria” to elevate us on their False pedestal of dubious Excellence that we should therefore wear their Shameful Badge of Bogus Acclaim?

In the 2015 ranking by London-based education consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the National University of Singapore (NUS) took the 12th spot this year, up from 22nd last year, and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) was placed 13th, up from 39th last year. 

Wow, indeed! NUS and NTU have leapt incredibly into the top 13 of the annual World University Rankings, partly due to a change in how research citation is evaluated. 

Hold it, people … ! An Eminent Professor has once called the QS Rankings “a Fraud on the public.” Another Eminent Professor said: “QS simply doesn’t do as good a job as the other rankers that are using multiple indicators”. 

“University world rankings are pointless”, said University College London’s President, “because there is no definition of the ‘ideal’ university.

Under vigorous academic evaluation, the QS Ranking Methodology failed to withstand penetrative scientific scrutiny. In essence, World Universities Rankings contain serious fundamental conceptual and methodological flaws to render Word Universities Rankings practically useless, irrelevant and immaterial for any serious educational policy purpose. 

An European Union Research Centre concluded that the Rankings was not statistically robust in numerous aspects and highly unreliable for inter-University comparisons.  Their different Ranking Methodologies are also fragile in their ranking approaches and often inconsistent in its treatment of objective data and subjective variables extracted from surveys. 

In fact some survey results used in QS study were strangely re-cycled for 3 years for unknown reasons and in accordance with no associated research methods. 

IT IS OUR RIGHT AS SINGAPOREANS TO DEMAND ANSWERS AS TO WHY, in 2015, OUR UNIVERSITIES ARE STILL Participating in Bogus Ranking Standards of Dubious Excellence?

In fact, the United Nations Education agency, UNESCO, has challenged the validity and reliability of University Rankings:

“Global university rankings fail to capture either the meaning or diverse qualities of a university or the characteristics of universities in a way that values and respects their educational and social purposes, missions and goals. At present, these rankings are of dubious value, are underpinned by questionable social science, arbitrarily privilege particular indicators, and use shallow proxies as correlates of quality.”

UNESCO’s found it “difficult to argue that the benefits offered by the information they provide, given the lack of transparency that we have observed, are greater than the ‘unwanted consequences of rankings’. For there is a danger that time invested by universities in collecting and using data and statistics in order to improve their performance in the rankings may detract from efforts to progress in other areas such as teaching and learning or community involvement”.

Singapore universities should never have participated in the “Global Universities Rankings” Frauds.  Singapore’s presence in the Global Universities Rankings invariably lends our hard-earned Reputation for Authenticity and Honesty to mask their lack of credibility, validity and reliability. OUR Universities MUST be held to the same high standards of integrity and authenticity as the rest of the Nation. 

And “Yes”; even Nunzio Quacquarelli who is the Founder of QS has publicly urged that Governments should Ignore QS Rankings precisely because they were never intended for strategic education policy use. 

Our new Ministers for Education should launch an investigation into NUS/NTU’s continuing annual participation in the ongoing Fraud. 

We must continue to uphold the honest Truth before the World and ourselves, not because of laws and penalties but because this is WHO WE ARE.  Our High Standards of integrity and honesty reflects the Society we want to live in, and the values we uphold and hold ourselves to embrace.

 

By MIKOspace

Related:

NUS, NTU in Top 13 of World Universities Rankings

Singapore in World Universities Ranking Fraud in 2014

True Lies about World Universities Ranking

UNESCO - University Rankings of Dubious Value

Why We Should Not Trust Global University League Tables

Laws Broken for Top Universities Rankings

Singaporean Students and Professors Sacrificed for Top Universities Rankings

Singapore NTU is Number 1 University

QS Ranking - A Fraud on the Public

Scrutiny of QS Universities Ranking

QS - Governments should Ignore Rankings

Malaysiakini article on Najib

‘There are two separate ways to move a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in the upcoming parliamentary sitting, Bersih vice- chairperson Thomas Fann revealed today.

Apart from having MPs table a motion in the Dewan Rakyat, he said the MPs can also opt to vote down Najib’s budget proposal after it has been debated.’

Read this article in Malaysiakini dated 9 Oct. Is this Thomas Fann going to table the motion to move a no confidence vote against Najib? Does he know the consequences of the aborted Red Shirt Protests in Petaling Street and downtown Malacca? The Chinese could breathe a sigh of relief just a couple of weeks back when they were living in fear. Hope this Thomas Fann is not going invite another Red Shirt Protest and risking a bloodbath by tabling such a motion in Parliament. The Chinese minorities just had two narrow escapes. Do not tempt trouble for a third time.

It would be better for the Malay MPs to make such a move if needed. For a non Malay MP to do so is delusional and irresponsible. There is no fight and only inviting disaster to the Chinese minority when violence breaks out. And it would be a one way blood letting, and no Malay leaders will be there to stop it.

Think very carefully. Do not throw eggs against a stone wall. Bilahari is right to warn the Malaysian Chinese to know what they are up against. Let Mahathir and his gang to take the fight to Najib. It is not a fight for the Chinese or Indian minorities. In a way it would be better for the Malaysian Chinese to squabble with Kausikan instead. This would be harmless other than some letting off of verbal diatribes. The goals of fighting for freedom, justice, rules of law and good governance are only good if they could be seen in those context. But the extremists would not and would turn them into another anti Malay issue.  Idealism and aspirations must be tempered with realism. The minorities in Malaysia have very little room to move around.

Mahathir has rounded up his team of Malay leaders to challenge Najib. Let them do battle in their own terms and do not offer yourself as the convenient diversion and scapegoat for a bloodbath waiting to happen. Spend more time engaging with Bilahari. He is doing the Malaysian Chinese a favour as a convenient target to divert their attention and anger from flirting with death and destruction.

Leadership style – Hsien Loong versus LKY

The no nonsense style of LKY is well known by the pioneer generation and those who had worked with him or during his watch. No mistake was tolerated and any major mistake would mean heads would roll. There was little room for kindness and tolerance. When a major mistake was committed, out you go. In a way it worked. Everything was tip top, efficient and everything was expected to work with the push of a button. We were the best in many things, we were clean and green, a model city to be admired and emulated.

We are still good in many things, but some are showing signs of crumbling. The multiple train breakdowns would see heads rolling, but not under Hsien Loong’s watch. Everyone still got paid just as much and happily going about their work as if everything is normal, the breakdown is normal, just work on it to get it better.

The latest hepatitis C breakout when innocent lives were lost is the same. And Hsien Loong said, the important thing is to find out what happened and make sure that it would not happen again and do better the next time. Would there be heads rolling, no, don’t bet on it. This is the new style and new ethos. Work hard and do your best, we understand you are doing your best. No need to worry that you will lose your job if some big mistake is committed. It’s ok, make sure it does not happen again.

Working under this new leadership style of Hsien Loong must be easier and less stressful. The boss understood and would be kinder, would not carry a big stick. The contrasting style is obvious. Would the new leadership style lead to a more efficient Singapore? For sure, it would be a more pleasant work environment, more people oriented and not necessary less task oriented.

 

Make a mistake, admit your mistake, say sorry, apologize and explain. Then move on.