Singapore the safest and most peaceful place on earth

A chaotic year went by and many will ‘kee chiu’ if I say Singapore is one of the safest and peaceful countries in the world. We should count our blessings and thank a forward looking, proactive and good planning govt that is all the time worrying about our national security and the preservation of our social fabric. Chee Hean had made two statements yesterday, one after protecting our social fabric from a breakdown of social cohesion that would lead us down the rubbish chute of social unrest and racial strife. And it is a miracle that we could keep our social fabric intact after stuffing the little island with more than 2m of the people highly prone to violence from around the world. The few punching bag incidents are peanuts and tolerable. We can live with that. It must be the successful integration process that the govt has put in place and the good jobs that were given to the foreigners that resulted in this harmony. This is something to be proud of, and a price worth paying for.

The next important statement by Chee Hean is on cyber security. This is an increasing threat to our smart nation where the decision to cross the road or what to eat, or whether the oldies at home are safe, are all wired and computerized. Then there are the transport system, the water and flooding system, the electrical grid, banking and finance, the health records and our power system. With so many systems being wired up, the opportunities for them to be targeted for mischief are plentiful and very real.

And thanks again to the great policies of the govt to import the best foreigners to boost up our IT industry and our cyber security. It is a cat and mouse thing and we need the best cats to catch the most intelligent mice. And if the mice are from foreign sources, we need foreign cats to deal with them. Ah, to set a thief to catch a thief really works. What about local threats? They would route their attacks from overseas and the foreign cats would be well placed to catch them too. Our cyber security and cyber defence are in the best hands, the best foreigners money can buy to guard our security and to protect us.

Singaporeans can sleep well. All the computerized systems will be safe under the watchful eyes of our foreign IT experts. This may be called defence in depth like having gurkhas to guard our installations. Foreign mercenaries can play a big role in our safety and security. So far so good. This is not ownself check ownself. This is depending on foreigners to check ownself and to protect us. The foreigners not only protect us, they also provide good jobs for us and integrated very nicely with our citizens. This is like what they say, have the cake and eat it as well.

Let’s hope our social fabric will remain intact when we hit 6.9m. Let’s hope we would not be dragged into a war by some of our good friends or because of them terrorists would want to teach us a lesson for meddling with their domestic affairs.

This is another good thing to remember for Christmas.

Futuristic Train Terminal

Many would think this photo is a screen shot taken from the Star Wars movie or some Sci fi movies coming out from Hollywood. This is real. This is not back from the future or the future. This is the present.

Where would you think this is from? Singapore's Bishan or the Tuas depot of tomorrow? Or is it in Japan, Germany, France or the USA?  Keep guessing.

Many critics or western media will say these trains are good to see but would break apart after two days. Some will say there are made of cheap parts, plastics, cannot move, maybe got horses inside the trains to pull it along.

These are the latest bullet trains from China. They are breaking all the records for speed and safety features. And they have been running for more than a decade. And they have been running from China to Central Asia. They have been operating in Europe, in Africa, and will be running in Indonesia, Thailand and the USA.

How about that, a present from China for Christmas?

Merry Christmas everyone.

Photo credit to China Daily.

Schools raise cut off points for admission

The PSLE result was so good that top secondary schools have to raise their cut off points for admission. Many PSLE graduates were disappointed after doing so well and thinking that they could get admitted only to be thwarted by the new cut off points. And at the other extreme, 7 schools need not raise their points and did not receive enough students to run their classes. Even if they were to lower their cut off points, it would not make any difference. The MOE is now having a different kind of headache on what to do with these schools. Should they be merged or close down?

The exceptionally good results of our students, and kudos to the schools and the teachers, are not a once off phenomenon. The trend has been consistent for the last 4 decades. The funny thing is that we have lost one whole generation of industry leaders. According to the foreign recruiting agents, not Singaporean recruiting agents, we don’t have talents and the only talents they could find are in the 3^rd World villages. And if you want them to do any placement, they will go scouring the little villages where talents are plentiful, especially in banking and finance and also IT, to give you the best. They just can’t find the talents they need from the local cohorts that were famed for their straight As. I dunno what happened to these bright students when they grow up? Becoming part time employees or doing temp jobs?

And the loss of talents is not confined to just IT, banking and finance. It is across the board. Even top postman job must go to foreigners, top gardeners job, top animal keepers jobs, curators of junks, oops I mean antiques,  etc etc must also go to foreigners. And foreign talents are starting to fill the politicial positions as well. That is how good our education system has become. And not a single Singaporean dares to dispute this fact, that we don’t have local talents for top jobs. Maybe in 30 years time. They have just planted the shoots and waiting for the harvest in 30 years time. Yes, in 30 years time we will have local talents for top jobs. Don’t worry.

For those who just completed their PSLE, in 30 years time they will be about 40 years old, just about right. They will be just in time to be the top talents Singapore is waiting for.

Oh, what about the schools that cannot attract students and facing a bleak future of no students? Not to worry. I have several solutions. One simple one is to go to 3^rd World countries and offer them scholarships to pick up the village best to be our future talents. There is only one problem, or maybe not a problem, only a paradox. These village talents will shine if they continue to stay in their village school system and when they graduated, they will be headhunted to be our foreign talents. But if they are to study here, in our world best education system, would they score straight As like our local students but ended up with no talent and unemployable like our local students?

The village talents must think very hard on which is the better system that will bring out their best. From experience and empirical data, it is better that they stayed in the village school system that will turn them into top grade foreign talents for this city state.  And they can say, cheap and good, a cheap education but with excellent results.

What do you think?

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation - An Asian tapestry

By Chua Chin Leng (chinadaily.com.cn)Updated: 2015-12-15 14:46

Since its humble beginning as the Shanghai Five, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is growing in stature as a regional political and economic organization.

Created for confidence building measures between Russia, China and the Central Asian states, the SCO has been very successful in reducing regional tension and ensuring peace and stability in Asia. With the growing threats of terrorism, the member states work together to contain the scourge of terrorism spreading into the respective countries.

The original conceptualization of this security organization grew out of a necessity. The plan was to lower tension and to build trust, to provide a formal framework for consultation and cooperation in security matters, it has expanded its role to cooperation and mutual support in the international arena for its member states. The fact that many countries are lining up to join this low key regional organization signifies its recognition and acceptance as a valued organization.

Uzbekistan was added to the original Shanghai Five of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in 2001. This year, India and Pakistan were accepted as the two new members. Many Asian states have applied and been accepted as 'observers' and 'dialogue partners'. The USA also applied to be an observer (a prerequisite to become a full member) but was rejected in 2005.

The security of Asia, to remain as a unified region free from conflict and warfare, depends a great deal to an organization like the SCO. Smaller Asian countries need a security umbrella to protect them from big powers. It is of utmost importance that the SCO sew up this tapestry with more Asian members, to keep them together and not be divided and be at odds with each other. A divided Asia will provide the cracks needed for unfriendly forces to exploit and to engage in sowing conflicts. With more Asian countries showing interest to be a member of SCO, it shows these countries seek peace and stability in Asia. They seek security and protection that the SCO can provide them.

Asia must remain united as a region free from war. The SCO proves to be a dependable and indispensable stabilizing role. They must seize the moment to sew up more Asian states into its tapestry to keep them stitched together as parts of Asia, a united Asia where peace prevails.

The author is a political observer from Singapore.
The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and don't represent views of China Daily website.

South China Sea – History versus geography

I normally would not care to comment on what the lunatics said. There was one that posted a comment in the Today forum calling Singapore to take sides with the Americans against China in the South China Sea dispute. He urged Singapore not to remain neutral as neutrality was a sign of appeasement. This kind of thought must come from the same mindset that Singapore could punch above its weight and would make a difference in geopolitical struggle. Many Singaporeans still did not know that standing on the head of a tiger and shouting out loud did not really mean anything as the power came from the tiger and not the mouse.

Another forumer replied in the Today paper calling the one suggesting that Singapore must take sides with the Americans against China as naïve. The naïve in his own way thought he was the judge of the South China Sea dispute and already decided that China was wrong in his deluded mind. No need to ask why he thought he was the one to judge the right or wrong of such a dispute.

The norms of international relations went through many phases starting with historical claims. Every native today claimed ownership of the land on historical grounds. They were the first settlers or founded the land first. Even the Jews were claiming their rights from history to own Israel as a God given land. Removing the historical justification, then all the natives in South East Asia or the whole world would have no rights to their land.

The next unwritten law was conquest. Past civilizations and their empires were decided by conquest. Then you have the Egyptian Empire, the Persian Empire, Ottoman Empire, Greek and Roman Empire also the Chinese Empire. And their territories grew or shrank according to their power and influence.

This was eclipsed by a moderated version of power and conquest in colonialism. The rule then was based on the western version of the Doctrine of Christian Discovery originated from the Vatican. The papal bull proclaimed that all the non Christian land is occupied by sub humans and the Christian Europeans had the right to conquer and seized their lands.

Many countries today were established on the above principles, historical rights, conquest or the Doctrine of Christian Discovery. Anyone wants to rubbish all these precedence and historical claims to start afresh? The law of history, conquest and the Doctrine of Christian Discovery no longer relevant, to be overruled by the new Rule of Law of the Sea based on geography?

The lunatic claimed that geography and the Rule of Law of the Sea now stand supreme and override historical claims, and the claims of conquest and colonialism? Well, in the asylum, the lunatics are the kings and they can claim anything they want.

Singapore to take sides with the Americans to fight the Chinese over claims in the South China Sea that it has nothing to do with? Or Singapore must guarantee freedom of navigation of the high seas and must defend this right. Oh, I see, Singapore can punch above its weight and its voice means a lot and the super powers are trembling when Singapore opens its mouth and decides to take sides.