Parliamentarians - Sayang our poor children in a divorce

This issue was hot in Parliament. Every MP worth his salt, including ministers, joined in the chorus about the welfare of little children in broken up families. Poor kids. They are the ones that hurt the most when adults fought and break up. They care deeply about the hurt.  Children are innocent and need to be protected from the harm the adults can inflict on them, intentionally or unintentionally.

I am sure Parliament will debate non stop in the case of poor Benjamin Lim, the poor boy that only had a cold bun for his last meal. I am sure with such kind and caring people in Parliament, many would be in tears talking about Benjamin Lim.

Benjamin’s case came up yesterday and two ministers spoke and with MPs asking questions. Not sure if the question and answer session was as passionate as the case of poor kids in divorce cases. What came through is that the police and the teachers followed orders, worked according to their protocols and everything was normal. And the officers had been dealing with thousands of cases involving young people. Nothing like this happened before. Perhaps this is another 1 in 50 year incident.

Ng Chee Meng was quite happy with the 8 step protocol of MOE. He showed some goodness in him by suggesting that perhaps an adult should accompany a student in police interviews but stopped short of affirming that this would be the necessary change. And he commented that it is police protocol not to allow adult/parents to be present in their interviews.

Shanmugam was also quite happy that his officers did the right thing, followed the right procedures in handling young people. He also revealed the fact that this was not a serious case and Benjamin would likely to get a warning and would not have to go to court.  Did the case appear to be worst than what Shanmugam said when it was first reported? Was it rape, aggravated molestation, or a 14 year boy touching a girl in a lift? What did the 11 year old girl reported and what actually happened that needed 5 police officers to go to the school to bring the boy to the police station? Was there enough evidence from the start that this was not a serious case and need not have the presence of 5 police officers?

Did anyone suggest that 5 police officers interviewed Benjamin as the Shanmugam claimed or the social media was only saying 5 police officers went to school?  Shanmugam gave his side of the story.

Benjamin’s father gave his side of the story in an open letter in TOC. I quote a few paras here, ‘When Benjamin finally left the police station at 2.50pm, he told his mother and sister that he was not given anything to eat, nothing to drink throughout the 3 or more hours of engagement with police investigators in the police station. At his age, my son gets hungry very fast after one meal. Just a cold bun and a drink, and we cannot be sure if he did finish the bun because he was under pressure then. Benjamin must be feeling hungry, thirsty, throughout the few hours he was with the police investigator. I can imagine the anxiety felt by my son throughout the ordeal….

That said, as parents we cannot forget and we cannot forgive the way my son was treated, from the school to the time he was in police custody. I have this to say to the school authorities. We as parents we entrusted our children to you. You have a duty to ensure that our children are appropriately taken care of, reasonably protected and have their interest in your priority.

The fault is the TOC and the social media in general for posting misinformation. TOC is ‘heng’ not to indulge in speculative and spurious allegations that the 11 year old girl would be so traumatized and committed suicide and her parents went mad as a result or worst.

So nothing wrong except maybe some refinement is needed to change the protocol to allow an adult to be present. But must consult psychologists and psychiatrists and the police and teachers, and parents to see if this is necessary?

Is there a need to reinvent the wheel? Police interviewing children is nothing new. The civilized countries in the West have many protocols on this. Can send a study mission to USA, to UK or Europe to study their civilized system and see if they can be used here?

The incongruence of long term result versus short term tenure

‘SINGAPORE: With the global economic outlook uncertain, Singapore will have to ride the ups and downs in the short-term, but its focus must remain on the longer-term, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday (Feb 8).

This means focusing on skills upgrading, as well as giving productivity and training a bigger push.’ CNA

There is now an obsession about looking long term, look far ahead, the further the better, like looking forward towards SG100. This is the most comforting position for anyone in charge, in govt or in business, getting paid today and saying the results will be good in the long term. The pay is real, collected every month, the result is like fairy tales, long long time ago. Who knows what is in the long term, the person in charge would not even be around to see the result or the big flop.

Big corporations hired CEOs and paid them handsomely, in many millions to see results, immediate or in the short term, a couple of years. That is the duration in which a CEO is hired, to perform, to deliver the results. How nice if the CEO can collect his millions and tell the shareholders, look, I am planning for the long term, in 20 or 30 years to bear fruits. I am planting a durian tree. You will see the fruits in 15 years time. The fruits will be good. Trust me. Is there any guarantee that the fruits will be good?

This is the concept of instant gratification and delayed performance. In fact the CEO need not bother about the results in the long run. He would not be there but happily collecting his fortune in the present. There is a mismatch. A CEO is expected to perform immediately. He is hired to deliver now or be fired.

Our democratic system of govt is renewable every 5 years. An elected govt is elected for a 5 year mandate. They need to deliver in the 5 years in office. The system expects a govt to perform in the short term, 5 years. There is no grace or privilege to wait for the long term. This is one of the major flaws of a democratically elected govt. They can be changed after every election.  So, how does it appeal to the people that the govt is working only for the long term and not so much as for the present?

It is like the money in the CPF.  It is for the long term, not sure how long that is, perhaps up to 100 years. In the mean time, no money to pay for food and medical and can die tomorrow is not a concern. In the long term it is good. Now you die your business.

How to reconcile this long term and short term mismatch? Do the people elect a govt for a 5 year term to work for the long term good? Who is to know the consequences in the long term of a bloated population in a small piece of rock? Who is to know the adverse impact of so many foreigners who are given citizenship now? Who would know the impact of our education system in the long term with all the policy changes today? Who would know if Singapore is still an independent country like it is today or be taken over by foreigners in the long term? Who would know if the new citizens today would drive out the pioneering Singaporeans one day?

Long term got guarantee or not?

Japan in control of the biggest naval fleet in the Pacific Ocean

WW2, Japan commanded the biggest naval fleet in the Pacific Ocean and promptly sailed to Hawaii to knock out the American Pacific fleet with great honour and bravado.  The Japanese were so proud of that sneaky victory over the Americans. The Americans were no match when caught in their pyjamas and paid a very heavy price for it. But it was all water under the bridge.  The Americans respected the Japanese code of honour and the sneaked attacked in Hawaii was soon forgotten.

The Americans have embraced the Japanese as honourable warriors of the same kind, and kissing each other everyday. The internment of anything looking like a Japanese in the WW2 days too were forgotten. The bombing of Japanese cities, including Tokyo and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki too were forgotten. The Americans and the Japanese have squared their positions and all is well.

Japan today is in command of the most powerful naval force in the Pacific Ocean. Admiral Harry Harris is the Commander of the US Pacific Command with authority over the 3rd and 7^th Fleet and all the American land and air forces in the Indian and the Pacific Ocean, with many nuclear bombs at his command and disposal and with fire and destructive power thousands of time that of the two bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And the Japanese are also in possession of a so called Self Defence Force that is the most powerful in East Asia after China. Combing the Self Defence Force and the US Pacific Command, the Japanese are now thousands of time more powerful than their heydays in WW2. And Harry Harris is adding the Indian Navy into his charge soon to control the Indian Ocean as well.

This combined force is formidable enough to attack any nation in Asia, including China and Russia and come up triumphant. It can overrun the whole of Asia and Southeast Asia more swiftly and effectively than the Japanese Imperial Army of WW2. And this naval force is for peace, really, no bluff.

While Japan failed in WW2 to be the Number One military power, it is now the de facto Number One military power with the appointment of Japanese Harry Harris as the Commander of the US Pacific Fleet. Japan is now in a position to do many Hawaiis at one go, including launching an all out war with China and Russia. The Japanese are now ruling all the countries in the Indo Pacific region.

Harry Harris is even more powerful than General MacCarthur or any American Commander ever lived.

Heng ah, I was not born in Singapore – FT

Ng Kok Lim wrote an article on this in TRE and I quote his first paragraph, ‘During the last election, Minister Lim Swee Say said heng ah, he was born in Singapore and many Singaporeans agreed with him. But the truth is that you don’t have to be born in Singapore to be heng in Singapore.’

 

I fully agree with what Kok Lim said. He went on to quote those who were not born in Singapore and very heng here, like Boon Wan, Amy Khor, Piyush Gupta, Olivia Lum and many others including table tennis players, swimmers and half past six footballers. And there are more than 2m heng foreigners here helping to grow our economy by 2%, if not our economy will go into recession.

 

And all the foreign born Singaporeans and FTs must be singing in chorus, heng ah, we were not born in Singapore, no need to pay for the expensive and damn stressful education system only to end up with no marketable skills and good enough to be security guards, taxi drivers and crane drivers. And if still cannot get such jobs, to go for further training at public expenses of course. This one really heng, the govt is using public money to subsidise their trainings so that they can be useful in 3^rd world countries, to take the place of the 3^rd world FTs who are here, in their 3^rd world countries getting paid 3rd world salaries with 3^rd world currencies. See how heng are Singaporeans born here. And their 3^rd world counter parts are here to replace them, get their jobs, their women, and get paid high salaries in Singapore dollars.

 

And the FTs are also saying heng ah, no need to waste 2 and a half year charging up Pengkang Hill, not sure if the hill is heng enough to remain there or mowed down to build HDB flats, no need to serve NS, no reservist training, just doing anything and tell the daft Sinkies, I also do NS and join the elite of this daft city.

 

Now, who is more heng, the Singaporeans born here or the foreigners who are going home after their stint in paradise to be rich land owners and living in big landed properties? And they need not worry about Benjamin or their sons doing NS to defend and protect the million dollar properties here that they cannot afford to smell.

 

Are Singaporeans heng or sway? You tell me lah. Sure some of you will be very heng but many would be very sway, like Benjamin and his family and those ended up as punching bags for the very heng foreigners here or losing their well paying jobs to the very heng foreigners.

 

Parrots, please, I am not asking you. Stop parroting. Just repeat after me, ‘Heng ah’.

2 rogues running for President

Two rogues are the front runners in the race for the Presidency of the USA. One is a rogue by virtue of the blood of the Arabs in her hands when she was Secretary of State. And she was known to enjoy every bit of it, like a joke, caught on video laughing herself silly at the mention of the collateral of the invasion of Iraq.  Then there is the indestructible Donald Trump who is seen as another rogue by the Republican leadership but not to the American people. Yes, the Americans are saying they want to vote for a ‘rogue’ President to lead the country.

This is what democracy is all about. It is from the people, of the people and for the people. The people decide who among themselves should be the President of the USA, and who is best able to look after their interests. This decision is not to be decided by a small elite in Washington to protect their own backsides and interests and to go around calling those that are against them ‘rogues’.

The Republican leaders have been ganging up against Trump. They even staged campaigns against him to prevent him from becoming their candidate for the Presidency. What is Donald Trump’s crime? One, Trump is not one of them. Trump is a self made man, a self made billionaire that needs not feed on the system to get rich. Trump does not need to protect the system of greed and corruption. Trump is against everything his Party stood for.

Trump is a new man with new ideas and will dump the Party and all the cronies that have enshrined themselves in the system as if they own America. Trump will change that, Trump will change America to the good old days of the founding fathers.

According to the NYT, the ‘Republicans have ruefully acknowledged they came to this dire pass in no small part because of their own passivity.’ They should have learnt from Singapore, invent a system to prevent ‘rogues’ to become President. This would solve all their problems if they just label Trump a rogue. Unfortunately it is too late.

But this is the strength and essence of American democracy. The power rests on the people. The people decide who they want to be their President, rogue or no rogue. No small group of elite is going to change that. The people are in charge. They know their rights in a democracy and the country belongs to them, not to the small elite.

It is too late for the Republicans to change anything. Even if they try, the Americans would throw their idea out, including them. It is democracy, not autocracy, not dictatorship, not a dynasty owns by the elite. The Americans are not daft citizens. They think and act in their own interests.