Bomb threat protocol on SQ001

SQ001 arrived from San Francisco on Sunday with 267 passengers on board. The media reported that it was the target of a bomb threat and was held at the tarmac for more than an hour with all its passengers on board. It was a great relief that it was found to be a hoax and all the passengers were safe.

The incident is receiving a lot of brickbats from netizens saying that the protocol was flawed. Should it not be top priority to get the passengers out of the aircraft as the first instance when the aircraft landed instead of holding them inside the aircraft that is the subject of a bomb threat? It sounds very logical. And the procedure of keeping the passengers inside the aircraft looked so silly to many observers and commentators.

Maybe there are other reasons or information that the public did not know. What is the nature of the bomb threat? Normally it is like a bomb being planted in the plane. So getting the passengers out and away from the aircraft looks the most reasonable thing to do.

What would it be if the threat says do not open the door for doing so would trigger the bomb to go off? Ah, no one thought of this right? I think the security people are not that daft as the public thought them to be. Understand the nature of the threat first and then the measures taken would make sense. Some bombs are designed to  trigger off at certain heights, above or below or at certain speed like it will go off if the speed falls below say 300 knots.

Now what is this case all about? Who knows? Did the security people made a booboo by allowing the passengers to remain in a plane with a bomb threat or there is more than what we know?

The war in Syria going to blow up

The Turks down Russian SU24 fighter jet yesterday when both sides were supposed to be fighting the ISIS. Putin called this a stab in the back while the Turks are claiming that the Russian jet entered their territories.  Such silly behavior is very typical of some Asean countries, thinking they could pull the whiskers of a sleeping tiger. The Russians with Putin in charge would not let this event go unpunished. Turkey can expect a few bombs at their radar stations or airbases or a few F16s to be shot down by the Russians.

Turkey is behaving like little pesky countries thinking that with the US behind them they could go around shooting at anyone, including a nuclear power like Russia. There is no way they are going to get away with this silly act. The Russians are prepared to take on the Americas and Turkey is a push over.

This is a lesson that the Philippines and some Asean states must take note. Don’t try this silly trick on China. They will give them a blue black even if it risks the Americans joining the fray. There are things that silly pesky countries can do, there are things that they better not do.

The war in Syria will cross over to Turkey and the innocent people of Turkey will be the next war collateral. It is really baffling to think that leaders of a country could act in such a silly manner and think they could get away with it.

Well done Turkey, welcome to the war zone.

Tapping solar energy

Everyone is tapping solar energy. PUB is conducting a 9 month test to see its impact on the environment and reservoir. Solar panels need a lot of space and installing them means some space much go. Not a good way to use our limited space. We need more space for more foreigners to come in, 6.9m or 10m. So the reservoir with it wide expanse of water surface offers a perfect setting for solar panels. Really? Would it eat into the space of water activities?

Actually there is a lot of unused space that would not be put to use and when used for solar panels, no space will be wasted. In fact it is maximizing space that would be wasted anyway. Look at the new sound barrier panels SMRT are erecting on the side of tracks to cut down noise level. Why can’t they install solar panels instead, killing two birds with one stone? The panels could also act as sound barriers. And the long stretches of tracks can definitely take in a good number of panels without wasting any extra space.

If SMRT were to line all the tracks with solar panels, it may be able to turn it into another business, selling electricity with the surpluses or at least be self sufficient in energy consumption.

What do you think?

Enemy within

Today paper on 24 Nov published an article from Financial Times titled, ‘Enemy within is the biggest threat in cases of cybercrime’. It does not need a super talent not to see the truism in the title of the article. The article went on to say that most cyber attacks, more than 80%, was inside job, committed by people within an organization. However, many of the cases were simply deflected intentionally or otherwise to outside sources. Notably the massive attacks on US govt and commercial organizations were claimed to come from North Korea or China. What is the truth? The 81% statistics that such attacks were from within needs no further explanation.

How is this serious threat relevant to Singapore? Obvious isn’t it? With the IT industries dominated or even overtaken by foreigners, with many foreigners taking over important and financially or strategically sensitive institutions and corporations, would these people within be a threat to the interest of Singapore as a country?

The answer is a BIG NO. Singapore is very comfortable with foreigners, and foreign talents to take over our institutions and maybe even our countries. Just issue them a pink IC and they will not be foreigners anymore but Singaporeans. So simple.  Did anyone say so silly? We have complete faith and confidence that the foreigners coming here, given important appointments and CEOs, even sitting in Parliament, are all for Singapore and will not betray the trust the ever trusting Singaporeans took them in, hired them, to run our show. It is all about faith. We trust them and they would reciprocate our trust. Nothing to worry about. Do not be hysterical over such things. All is well.

Have no fear of foreigners doing inside jobs to compromise our security and interests. Singapore is an exceptional country in that every foreigner coming here will be good, like angels.

In the Today article, Tommy Helsby, the Chairman of business investigation firm Kroll said this, ‘Cybercrime is one of those things where the insider is the dominant threat…You have all these clever defences against people on the outside, but people on the inside are already on the inside.’

What nonsense, this kind of things would never be a problem in Singapore or in Singapore’s institutions. We are absolutely safe from inside attacks. We have many experts and security organizations overseeing our security from such attacks. If there is a risk, they would have opened their mouths. So far they are very comfortable with the situation.

And we have the strongest armed forces to guard against external attacks. We got Total Defense also. Where got problem? Insiders, 2 million foreigners here? So what? We need growth and they are here to help us grow our economy and provide jobs for our people, plus the talents that we are sorely in need of.

We have all the holes covered. Fear Not. Just build a strong defence force against enemies coming from outside. Buy more F35s to frighten them away.

PS. The enemy within did not wear a tag saying he is the enemy. He probably wears a smiling face full of innocence and a tag saying ‘I love you, trust me’.

Time for lighter moments

I quote some comments from a new citizen posted in the TRE trying very hard to be like a Singaporean. Here you are from a guy called Rayban.

‘I volunteer help PAP and got one yr I donate $250 only. I get invite go up stage hand shaking by MP Foo Mee Har. Below stage, people clap me so loud. I feel so hapy…I receive pretty MP hand shake me. Which better? You go answer.’

I must say he wasn’t trying to be funny. That is how he speaks or posted in TRE. A new citizen, a foreign talent. Please excuse him as English is not his first language, probably learn it from our integration programme.  Looks like he needs more integration than hand shaking.