The burden of Mao’s Thoughts versus Lee’s Hard Truths

China’s leaders of today lived through an era imbued with Mao’s Thoughts. The overly powerful leader in Mao turned him into a godlike figure where his words were as good as gospel truths. The lives of the Chinese population centred around reading, reciting and living the thoughts of Mao Zedong, for good or for bad.

Mao was the ideolog and his thoughts were in many cases idealistic ideologies. China was thrown into turmoil when the young followed the thoughts of Mao blindly and religiously. Many suffered, many lives were lost, arts and cultures were burnt and destroyed.

Then came Deng Xiaoping who brought some realism and pragmatism into the lives of the Chinese, moderating the extremes of Mao’s Thoughts and made them more relevant to the new realities of a new world. In the tussle between ideologies and pragmatism, China found a middle path to modernization. The thoughts of Mao are still there, vivid in the minds of the present day leaders, but in most cases, for recitation and to respect the great leader. In practice, Mao’s Thoughts were furthest in the minds of the new leaders in China.

A leader that has acquired a stature that is undisputed and held in awe could do good and also harm to the people and country. Blindly following old thoughts that have gone irrelevant is a recipe for disaster.

Singapore has a similar all powerful and influential leader in LKY, a deity like figure that still lives in the lives of many Singaporeans. LKY is still very influential in the lives of Singaporeans in the leaders and the common folks. The hard truths of LKY still linger in the thinking of many who had worked with him. His words are gospel truths to many and acted as guiding principles in what they are doing. Like Mao’s Thoughts, some of the hard truths, principles and policies have been overtaken by time and no longer relevant, obsolete. Sticking to them unthinkingly would do more harm than good to the people and country.

Unfortunately there are still many parrots parroting some hard truths as if they are the perpetual truths to be passed down to the future generations in the same manner when they have been overtaken by events. Though many of LKY’s hard truths would transcend time and have far longer usefulness and implications, there are surely some that must be discarded into the bins, or be modified to the new realities. It needs thinking and reassessment to use and apply the hard truths and wise quotes of LKY to be effective and useful. Blind parroting is a sign of trouble, of lazy and unthinking minds at work, of cheapo with no confidence and ideas of their own. The safest thing is to parrot the oracle.

The quoting of LKY’s hard truths and assumptions of things and policies will still be heard for a long time to come. Some quoting them knowingly, some unconsciously as the thoughts have been ingrained into their psychic for good or bad. Some will still apply them blindly without knowing that time has changed, things have changed, to the detriment of the people and country.

This is the curse of having leaders that have too overpowering influence on their believers and being too godlike, or elevated to the level of powerful and beloved deities. Would Singapore suffer the same curse and fate of gods and deities? Or would there be another equally powerful, respected and wise leader to emerge to moderate the hard truths and wise quotes of LKY, to make them relevant to the changes in time?

There are just too many parrots all over the place. You can hear them when they open their beaks to expose their bird brains.

Khaw Boon Wan got another job waiting for him

Khaw Boon Wan must thank his colleagues for providing all the opportunities to make him look so good, by digging holes for him to fill and to be carried around like the hero that is there at the right time to save a bad situation. The housing problems in Singapore were so classic that it must be the best case study of how a govt can turn a good situation into the biggest flop in public housing. And it did not need a genius to turn it around. Surprisingly no other ministers was confident or smart enough to see the opportunity to turn it around, and for this credit must go to Boon Wan to seize the moment, to make it right.

Now with the Transport Ministry facing a crisis with all the super talented ministers failing one after another, it would be foolhardy for any minister to volunteer for this job.  Boon Wan ended with this unenviable task to right a very difficult task. This one I must admit would test his mettle in working out a sustainable long term solution.

Should Boon Wan come up on top in the Transport Ministry, he has another job waiting for him urgently. He would be badly needed in the Health Ministry this time to stop the rot. An outbreak of hepatitis C and causing so many death is just unbelievable and unacceptable in Singapore. This kind of thing is quite normal in 3^rd World countries when basic hygiene, equipment, facilities and well trained medical staff are lacking. How could it happen in our everything world class, everything so expensive hospital? Are we that much different from the 3^rd World village medical standard?

And as expected, we have no talents to deal with such a bad situation and the MOH is calling for foreign experts to find out why and to provide the solutions. I would like to suggest the academia and professional bodies to decorate our local talents with more beautiful titles, strings of them, to add glory and colour to their credentials so that they will be invited to sit on such expert boards to solve our problems. They may also be invited to solve problems of other countries as experts. Give them more and better titles as specialists, experts, emeritus or whatsoever, to walk around and be noticed.

Boon Wan better get his job in the Transport Ministry done quickly as he is badly needed, urgently needed in the Health Ministry. This is a job waiting for him, the master problem solver, the minister with all the answers when other ministers are found wanting.

Education – Reading the news on the coming changes in education with trepidation

Two new ministers, freshly baked from the election have taken over the MOE and hard at work at changing and redefining education that will alter the fate of our young. These are very bright men and their intelligence cannot be underestimated, and the public must presume that they know what they are talking about and what they are going to do to our young. They must have come with the skill sets, the necessary qualifications and experience in education to do what they are going to do. The education of our young is no masak masak and can make or break their lives and the future of Singapore.

We have had several great ministers in the MOE with great slogans like holistic education, teach less learn more and all kinds of jest or jazz in the past and our education system is now world class or world best, if the rankings are to be believed. The only few success factors today are more qualified taxi drivers and security guards and ‘no talent or skill sets’ in important professions and industries. The damage, they did not call it damage, is that we will need another generation to produce the needed talents for our industry.  We are so short of IT, finance, banking and medical professionals despite the claims of doing a great job in education that our standards in these professions and fields are now compromised by half bakes from the 3^rd World filling the ranks.

With the new ministers and the new changes, would we continue to under produced or produced the wrong kinds not needed by the industries and economy? Or would it be another few generations and with more professions and industries being hollowed out?

Our holistic education, or hollow education, is turning out jacks of all trades and masters of none, and incompatible to the needs of the industry.  There are many good reasons for good quality education. But yes, education should not be just for the pursuit of a piece of paper that cannot be eaten. It must be a piece of paper that can be eaten or give the product from the system a good life, good jobs and professions, and be the best they can be.  I only think like that in my dreams.

The luxury of a holistic education is only good for those who do not need to work, no need to get a job, and education is for education’s sake. Many people still need to put food on the table and education is the means to that, to move up the social ladder, to uplift their stations in life. Isn’t that so, education the greatest leveler? Have no doubts about that, not everyone is a son or daughter of a millionaire or have parents who are millionaire ministers and want an education for the sake of getting an education and no need to get a job.

How much can we teach, what to teach, to get a good job and how much to enjoy education, to develop a better individual, a holistic person, a renaissance man or woman, needs to be carefully calibrated. We have failed in many areas in our education policy to the extent that we have no talents or not enough talents in many critical fields when good young men and women were wasted to spend time and money reading things they did not like or wanted to do. And while they are wasting their lives away in regrets, many half baked foreigners and foreigners with fake degrees and qualifications are brought in to replace them. The wasted generations due to clever or silly tweaking of our education system and policies are a sorry sight and state of affair.

It is very brave to jump into the deep end and start to think like a wise man or genius, a ‘knows all’ and trying to mend or bend the education system into another mould. It is better to think carefully, deeply, sleep on it or dream on it for a while, take your time before messing around with our education policies and the future of our young. Know where we are before thinking of going any where.

Should our young be excited by the impending great changes in our education policies and system or should they be shivering in fear of being experimental guinea pigs again?

How low can the Washington Post go?

Britain was attacked by the Washington Post for ‘kowtowing’ to China. Below is a report in the Global Time showing the low thinking of their China bureau chief.

‘The Washington Post on Wednesday ran a commentary by its China bureau chief Simon Denyer, which accused Britain, as its headline suggested, of "bending over backward to prove its friendship to China." 

What sour grapes!

The article criticized the British government as having been "working overtime to ingratiate itself with Beijing" and for "complete kowtowing to the Chinese dictatorship." The article also mocked British Chancellor George Osborne for envisioning a "golden relationship" between China and the UK.

The British newspaper The Times also ran an article blasting China's "despotism," and demanded that the British government should raise the human rights issue when Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Britain next week. 

Apparently the concept of a "golden era" between the two countries has made some people uncomfortable. The former imperial power is placing much of its future on China. This has hurt the twisted dignity of those who still consider the West the center of the world….’

Can anyone believe that this is the kind of thinking in the Washington Post, making spiteful and callous remarks like spoilt adolescents? My God, Washington Post, aren’t you supposed to be some high brow newspaper? Or is the Washington Post now another trashy tabloids indulging in sleazy gossips?

This is the new normal, the new quality of America’s standard bearer, supposedly a top and reputable media. What a shame!

Johore threatening to secede from Malaysia

The comments by the Johore royalty of the possibility of Johore seceding from Malaysia have hit the news again. The Crown Prince has said it again, indicating that the frustration over the mess created by the Federal Govt and the politics of  racial unrest have upset the royal family in Johore. Several news agencies have the same report below:

“I am going to be the future Sultan of this state and my main responsibility goes towards the people of Johor. Malaysia is important to me, but Johor and JDT will always come first.

He also explained that Johor only agreed to be a part of the Federation of Malaysia provided “several basic terms” were fulfilled and added, “And if any one of those terms are breached, we have every right to secede from this country.”

Expressing his strong sense of duty to the people of Johor first and foremost, he said, “You can accuse me of instigating state-based sentiments, but to me, I’m merely doing my duty to the people of Johor, and reminding them of the history and heritage behind this great land.”

He also said it was important that everyone was aware that the current political and economic maelstrom in the country was not of the Johor royalty’s doing.

“People deserve to know, that the mess we have in the country right now, should in no way be associated to the Johor royal family. Over the years, we’ve always been strong and independent as well as resourceful.”….

Talk of secession first surfaced in June when the crown prince’s brother, Tunku Idris Sultan Ibrahim, posted a reminder to Putrajaya over Instagram that the Johor government had joined the Federation of Malaysia on the conditions Islam be declared the religion of the state; that the state have absolute right over water and land issues; and that the state royal house has its own armed forces….

He said that over the decades and centuries, the people of Johor were encouraged to be united and committed to a cause.

"So politicians may instigate racist sentiments, but the people of Johor will always be racially united and that very unity will go on to become the backbone of this football club," said Tunku Ismail. See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/malaysia/johor-always-first-says-crown-prince#sthash.Dd5HiHtt.dpuf

The frustration by the royalty family with Federal policies that in many ways could scuttle the State’s development plans must be a big sore point given the mammoth development projects in Johore and the risk of them being killed prematurely. Johore is in a rapid phase of economic development, probably the fastest pace among all the Malaysian states and huge funds are involved. Failure for these projects to take off is something the Johore royalties will not swallow without a good fight, and secession is a last option that may be considered if the big plans are put to risk.

With a small city state like Singapore, 1/100 the size of Johore, succeeding in going alone, big states like Johore, Sarawak and Sabah, with huge natural resources, land and people and good leaderships, cannot do worse and breaking off to found new states is a very attractive option. Singapore and many smaller countries in the world have proven that small states can carve out a living and be sustainable as small economies. Bigger states like Johore would have lesser problems with sustainability issues. Johore is self sufficient in everything and an independent Johore, Sarawak or Sabah and as new members in Asean would be a natural outcome. Brunei is doing exceptionally well too in Asean as an independent state.

The fear of the politicians in KL turning Malaysia upside down and burning is very real. The cries for independence and statehood to the more progressive and dynamic leaders who could be founders of new nation states and to be able to chart the destinies of their people and country in their chosen path, to be in full control, must be a very attractive and sexy inspiration. Why would they want to let foolish politicians to destroy their plans for their states and people?

If the politicians in KL do not get their acts together and continue to run down Malaysia, the secession dream could become a reality. The Johore royalties are no longer the little village sultans but sophisticated and worldly statesmen with clear vision of what is good for their people and state. They would not tolerate imbecile politicians to ruin their plans and statehood.

The prophecy of the 6 prime ministers of Malaysia in the name ‘Rahman’ is coming to an end with Najib as the last PM. After him, there is no mention of another PM. What would it be for Malaysia, who would it be as the next PM, or would it be a case of no more PMs?