Singapore to blame for Chennai flood

Chennai is hit by the worst flood in a century. Thousands are injured and the death toll hit 269 and rising. Millions of people have been cut off from basic services. The army has been put on a war footing. According to Agencies report, ‘Chennai has become a small island. This is unprecedented,’ said Home Minister Rajnath Singh. A Madrash University professor said, ‘It is shocking to see how (Chennai) has collapsed in the last 48 hours.’ ‘Experts said haphazard construction, faulty drainage and build up of rubbish contributed to the flooding.’

According to a CNA news reporter in Chennai, the problem is man made. They forgot to work on the drainage system with all the construction and economic activities in Chennai. And Modi is blaming on climate change.

Why would I say Singapore is to be blamed for the flood inn Chennai? The answer, most of the flood and irrigation/drainage experts are now in Singapore, working in Singapore. That’s why Singapore has no flood but Chennai got flood. We have taken all their experts as foreign talents here.

It is time Singapore returns India the favour, send the Indian experts working here to India and do something for India. They can come back to their well paying jobs here when they have helped India and Chennai with their irrigation/drainage and flood problems.  The flood problem in Singapore is already solved. No longer a once in 50 years problem. Now with the contribution of the Indian experts it may be once in 100 years or never again.

Let’s do something for Chennai first. Hold your fire on building 100 smart cities. Take care of the flood and drainage problems first.

Two bad wishes of the West that backfired

The world is not so inter related and interconnected that it is working more like a complete system with inter joining and connected parts that when one part moves or fails to move, other parts will be affected and the whole system could wind down and become dysfunctional. The first bad wish and designed by the Americans with the full support of its allies is to keep the Middle East on fire, in a constant state of warfare. This would keep the Arabs and the Muslims tied down in a counter productive pursuit that is only self destructing. All the countries and people in the region would be bogged down, trapped in war economies that become dysfunctional, instead of peace and stability, instead of building a thriving economy, instead of educating their children in schools, their people in employment, these normal daily activities are now in a flux. 

On the other hand, other than imprisoning these countries and people and condemning them to daily hardship and stagnation, death and injuries, in perpetuity, the western world are profiting from their destruction and miseries.  They keep encouraging them to fight, to kill each other, agitate them to go after one another, pulling regimes down and changing new and equally ineffective ones, and selling them weapons of war and the badly needed food and medicine and essentials of life. It is so pathetic to see these countries being manipulated to self destruct and lost in the quagmire without knowing what is happening and who is behind their tragedy.

The only good thing about this bad wish is that the disease will spread to the originator of this crime against the people of the region. It’s all coming back now. The flood of refugees have begun and Europe is the first recipient of the exodus. And Europe will pay a heavy price for bringing about or being accomplice to the war torn region. The refugees are coming for their compensation for destroying their homes and countries. When they crippled Europe, the Americans would no longer have the European allies to answer their becks and calls and to do their dirty work, killing people all over the world.  The Americans and the West must pay for the sin against the people and countries in the Middle East. The pain and suffering cannot be isolated and will spread across to Europe and North America. It is happening now in the streets of America, with people being gunned down by terrorists. The latter called themselves freedom fighters.

And the Americans are demanding the BRICS countries to do more to help the refugees. Why should they when the Americans and the West are the instigators and provocateurs of this crime against humanity in the name of freedom and democracy? What you sow you shall reap. The BRICS countries shall watch as the retribution of evil deeds seeks justice when justice needs to be done.

The second evil wish of the West, the collapse of China and the Chinese economy. They failed to see how inter related and inter connected is China to the western world and the rest of the world. When the factory of the world stops producing or winds down its production, the upstream and down stream industries and countries will be equally affected. Australia is the first to feel the pinch when China cuts down its import of raw material from Australia. Whole industries will close down and people go jobless. The cheap products would trickle into the consumer nations and prices will soar. China’s Yuan will depreciate, and there will be lesser demand for T Bills. China may start to sell the T Bills to convert to cash. The Americans would need to print more fiat currencies to buy back their debt. There will be less high spending Chinese tourists to share their wealth in tourism related industries and countries. In other words, all things will wind down accordingly.

Who will benefit from this bad wish? Or who will be the ultimate losers? There are many western corporations and manufacturers in China producing goods and services for the Chinese and the rest of the world. Apple would have to find new and cheaper sources of production to make their IPhones. Maybe not necessary as the demand would be down as well. The falling demand will sweep across all industries and countries.

If this bad wish comes true, no one will be left untouched. The richer nations of the West are likely to be affected more as they are the producers and the big consumers of goods and services.

Do not wish other’s ill or beggar thy neighbours. The whole world is now one economy. Have a better Christmas wish.

Tharman talks about intervention in social policy

Tharman went to Brookings Institution in Washington to talk about why it is good for the govt to intervene in social policy like social engineering. Has Singapore been doing social engineering in the city state? Of course we have and it is a very serious decision to take to ensure social security and stability. We have four major ethnic groups here and it is a natural tendency for the different ethnic groups to gravitate and live together.  ‘It’s not a natural tendency of society, it’s not part of the natural workings of society that  you get people wanting more and more to live with people who are different from them. So we need the visible hand of public policy to mitigate the invisible hand of markets, both the economic market as well as the invisible hand of social forces,’ he said.

So we have the HDB housing policies and quotas to spread the people to avoid having ghettos and ethnic enclaves. So far so good. We have not only avoided ghettos, we also have avoided racial problems and tensions.

Then again, with more than 2 million foreigners here, did the govt engage in intervention social policies? Don’t think so. We are seeing some ghetto like housing appearing. We are also seeing enclaves of foreigners in certain parts of the islands. If ethnic gatherings are not healthy to a multi racial society, what about the enclaves and segregations of foreign nationals in the city state? Would they pose a problem to the social cohesion and social fabric of our fragile multi racial and multi religious society? Somehow no one seems to bother about the millions of foreigners here, no social intervention, not even a care about the possible consequences on security of the nation. And many foreigners are employed to provide security services, to check on the Singaporeans, many of whom are NS men or ex NS men, with the responsibility to defend this city state. And now they are subject to checks and scrutiny by foreigners whose backgrounds are unknown, whose loyalties and political or religious affiliations are unknown.

How crazy or irresponsible has things become? What do you think? We control our people to the minute details but foreigners can do as they please, can run wild all over the island, living in their own enclaves and even business parks.

What is happening? Oh, Singaporeans committed more crimes than foreigners. Foreigners are all good and law abiding, model residents.

The most important development in Asia

I spoke about this earlier. The second most important development in Asia would be the reunifications of China and Korea. The most important development would be the unification of Asia and better if South and South East Asia are included.

Asia is still divided by the West into different camps at odds with each other. They will sign military alliances, trade pacts and provoke, incite the countries on their differences and take sides, stoke the fire and raise tensions. After the end of colonialism, the divide and rule of Asia is still a prominent feature in Asian countries. The Asians could not see why they are being divided and being exploited by the West and unable to come together to form an economic bloc of Asian countries. They have been victims of western conspiracies and strategies, harping on imaginary fears that become self feeding and self fulfilling.

Imagine an Asia when the countries work together for economic growth instead of wars or threats of wars and bickering over imagined fears? The TPP is another instrument to split Asian countries apart. Why would the Americans who created APEX refused to admit all the members in APEX to form a trade pact but only a few countries? If Asians start to think as a group, work together as a group, they would not be exploited by the West to make enemies of their neighbours.

Despite the red herring that China is a hostile aggressive power, the truth, China is already an economic power sewing together a tapestry of countries from Central Asia, Europe, Africa and South East Asia together in an undefined Co Prosperity Sphere build on trade and economic development, not military alliances. The pieces are coming together one by one. China’s economic and financial might are the most powerful and effective weapons to build a new world of prosperity, not in wars as the Americans would want it to be.

China may want to adopt a new strategy of a Coalition of the Willing, to stitch together all the willing countries starting with its immediate neighbours to bring economic development in these countries. When China can show the positive results in the prosperity of these countries, the rest will find it to their benefit to join the China bandwagon of growth and mutual prosperity instead of living in imaginary fears and wasting financial resources in a futile arms race, to buy more and more military hardware. China should simply go slow with the doubting Thomases and accelerate its cooperation with the willing and move on.

The rest of the Asian states would then have a choice, to seek economic growth and development or to join the American camp and be preparing for war and wasting their resources and finance.

Economic prosperity in peace and stability are what sensible leaders want for their countries and people, not conflicts and warfare. There is now a choice and only wise leaders can see it and benefit from it. Africa, excluding the northern states, and Latin America, are distancing themselves from the evil American Empire and seeking economic growth and development with China. The colonial mindset of the South and South East Asian countries are still trapped with the West is good myth, still unable to wean themselves from their colonial masters and happily being played against one another by the West.

When Asia is united, it will change the world and the lives of Asians.

Dan Tan rearrested by the Police

Less than a week after he was released as a free man when the Courts of Appeal ruled that his 2 year detention was unlawful. Dan Tan has been rearrested again on Tuesday night. The police did not give any reason but gave a statement, ‘The police are unable to provide further comments at this point as investigations are ongoing’. This is how efficient our police are when they want someone behind bars.  OK, this time the Law Minister said if Dan Tan were to be detained again, the police will set out the grounds fully and adequately this time.

Let’s look at the judgement again, and I quote the Today paper, ‘his detention was “beyond the scope of the power vested in the minister, which was to detain persons in the circumstances where activities of a sufficiently serious criminal nature threatened to or did undermine public safety, peace or good order in Singapore”.’  If it is beyond the power of the minister to arrest him, is it within the power of the police to arrest him again? I am not a legal trained person so can only ask to be enlightened.

What is he being charged now? And how long can the police detained him this time if no charges are framed against him, the normal 48 hours? Or is the police making a statement that the Courts of Appeal is wrong in its judgement to release Dan Tan? Is this now a question of law, the courts interpret it one way and the police interpret it in another way?  Shanmugam emphasized that his ministry is not challenging the court’s decision, so there is no conflict or conflict of interest. The police will do what it thinks is right and the court can decide what it thinks is lawful. If the first assessment or thinking is unlawful, would this second thinking be right and lawful?

The other big question, Dan Tan was under detention for two years, in other words ‘he was jailed for two years’ without being found guilty of a crime but alleged to be a master mind of an international football fixing syndicate.  Not enough meh? Is this fair to this man that has yet to be proven guilty but already guilty before being charged?

What happens if he is finally charged and the jail sentence is one year, would the govt owes him one year of over detention? Or if he is found not guilty, who is going to be responsible for his more than 2 years of detention?

And now he is being rearrested. What would his lawyer be saying or doing? When a person commits an act that is unlawful, the person is as good as having committed a crime. If the police detained Dan Tan for two years unlawfully, have the police committed a crime against Dan Tan or the law?

The most troubling issue will be the faith and confidence of the people over this CL/TPA.  How the police invoke this provision and how often it is ruled unlawful by the court will have serious implications on the police and the purpose of this provision.  This Dan Tan case has already cast a doubt over its use or misuse. The police must be seen to use this provision judiciously, lawfully and not because it thinks it is the right thing to do.

This case is getting very interesting. Some even questioned if the govt is under pressure to arrest Dan Tan and put him behind bars. Shanmugam had  categorically denied that this is so. ‘We don’t arrest or release people based on international pressure. We do what is right for Singapore.’ This arrest must be right for Singapore. Just make sure it is lawful and not thrown out by the courts again. Right is one thing, a personal judgement. We are a rule of law country and it must be lawful.