James Cook invaded Australia, NOT discovcred

A BBC news reported on 31 Mar 16 that an Australian Premier wanted to change the true history of Australia, that Britain invaded Australia, not discovered Australia. And I quote,

‘A top politician has backed university guidelines saying students should refer to Britain's "invasion" of Australia.
The University of New South Wales (UNSW) rejected claims on Wednesday it was "whitewashing" its curriculum.
Its Indigenous Terminology guide urges students to use the term "invaded" rather than "settled" or "discovered", and to avoid the word "Aborigines".
Queensland state Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she supported universities teaching "the truth"….

"A lot of Indigenous people lost their lives, there were massacres and the truth always must be told."
When the premier was asked if this meant Australia had been invaded, she answered "yes"…. There were already more than 250 separate language groups of Aboriginal people living on the land.
Then began a process of colonisation and land confiscation which denied Aboriginal rights to land, citizenship and equal status - rights which in many cases were only finally bestowed in recent decades.’

This piece of news would not be of interest to the West or even people in Asia. Our New York Times would not be bothered with such news but would reported profusedly on the island dispute in the South China Sea because it serves a different agenda and the interests of those favoured. The indigenous people of Australia have lost their land. It is history. No point talking about them. The main purpose now is to prevent China from claiming the islands. It is easier to control the South China Sea if the islands are claimed by the Asean countries than by China. It is better to keep the dispute alive and let it fester and agitate the claimants to go after one another, then sell them more weapons in a divide and rule strategy. Keep reporting the dispute and tension and keep stirring hatred and conflict among these countries. Let it become second nature and the Empire will sail in to take control.

The Asean countries have retaken their land, regained their independence. The important thing to them is to go out and claim islands in the South China Sea like Britain claiming Australia and the Europeans claiming the world outside Europe in the seventeen century..

The status of the islands in the South China Sea is in a way similar to Australia, New Zealand, the continent of North America and many other pieces of land all over the world. The only exception is that the islands have no indigenous people, uninhabited. Yes, anyone can claim them. But the rule of this game is still the rule of yesteryears. It is finder’s keepers, and if there is a dispute, the claimant must be able to make the dispute go away, to make it a reality. It is a different ball game for any country going out to claim land or islands. Face the fact, you need the barrel of the gun.

The Asean countries are strong, military powers in their own right and thus are able to make competing claims against China. Go ahead and make your claims a reality, if you can.

Let me return to this BBC news. Who is this Premier? Read her name. Yes, she is an indigenous people. She is a minority that survived the massacre and lives to tell the truth and wants to claim the rights of her indigenous people. She wanted the truth to be told. Who asked her if it was discovery or invasion? Obviously the descendant of the invaders, and his truth was that they discovered Australia. That was why he had to ask if Australia was invaded. What, indigenous people the owners of Australia?

The Doctrine of Christian Discovery, a Papal Bull, gave them the authority in the name of God the Almighty that non believers were sub humans and had no rights to land ownership. And the superior Europeans had all the right to take their land and their lives in the name of God. The Europeans, in Australia’s case it was James Cook and his British sailors, discovered Australia. The indigenous people were like the live stocks in the land, no rights to anything. That was their truth. This is not worth reporting, not worth to know.

So, would Australia rewrite their history books after more than 200 years of British and western truths? There have been some changes in mindset and some left over surviving tribes were given some land, while the rest of the continent is still owned by the European settlers that ‘discovered’ Australia.

Can you live with the truth? Whose truth? White men don’t tell lies. They just tell their own truth. You can’t handle the truth.

PS. BBC reported this, ‘Meanwhile, the University of Queensland says it does not teach that Captain Cook "invaded" nor "settled" Australia’. So, what did they teach?

PS. People who did not know their history would be happily deceived.

Singapore’s nuclear nightmare

Singapore’s dream of switching to nuclear power came to a rude ending with the Fukushima disaster. It is unimaginable if Singapore operates a nuclear plant and a mishap of a similar nature occurred. There is no where to hide and no where to run. It would be Singapore close shop for another 20 years. This stark reality has put the idea of a nuclear plant on hold for good until a fail safe system is available and there is no need to run away.

This, unfortunately is not going to be the end of Singapore’s flirtation with nuclear power. The nightmare would still be there. Indonesia and Malaysia are very keen in nuclear power and are exploring on the feasibility of having their own nuclear power stations. What if the Malaysians decided to have one and decided to have it located next to the Johore Straits, a mere 1 km from Singapore’s shore or less than 15km from the heart of Singapore city? A mishap with a 100km evacuation zone would mean Singapore has to close down as well.

This risk, if it actually comes to passé, is more deadly than having our very own nuclear plant. With our own plants we can be sure we will do everything we can to keep it safe. Now we know it is a near impossibility. What about the Malaysians having a plant next door and trying their best to keep it safe?  The thought of a Malaysian or Indonesian nuclear plant near by is going to drive Singaporeans bonkers.

Would Singaporeans have to live with such a nightmare waiting to happen? Please pray hard that both the neighbours would think like us, that it is near impossible to keep the lid tight on a nuclear plant and hoping nothing will happen. If the Malaysians or Indonesians think they are confident to make sure it would not happen, and go about building one next door, it would not be amusing.

Singapore may have to go begging them not to do so, NIMBY! Or would Singapore say you jump I jump? You build one I also build one?  This Titanic logic would not work. Where can we build but just inside this piece of rock?

Singapore walking on tight rope as MAS probes Najib

It was reported that the MAS had queried 40 financial institutions in Singapore on the flow of funds involving 1MDB. Such an action coming out at the time is politically very sensitive given the intimate and good relations between Najib and Hsien Loong.  The cordial relations between the two PM could be described as the best between the two states and it is very dicey to have this relationship rattled by such an investigation.

The big question is how the relationship between the two PM and the two states be affected as a result of this happening. Would Najib’s feather be so ruffled that the goodwill turns sour and leading to obstacles surfacing again?

As a financial hub and the complex relations with the western financial system and govts, Singapore is in a very tricky situation, like balls caught in a vice, to do or not to do. Where is the pressure coming from for Singapore to take such a high profile investigation? One can understand why Switzerland too could not pretend to be neutral and apolitical in this 1MDB story. Switzerland too must be under tremendous pressure to open up an investigation and undermined its safe haven for rogue funds image. Nothing else is safe in Switzerland henceforth and rogues wanting to park their wealth in that little European financial hub would have to think very hard after this episode.

Singapore has a better image in being a better managed and transparent system in the model of New York and London.  Conducting such an investigation when all the worms are crawling all over the place is inevitable. Tough luck for Najib for offending the Empire.  Now he would have to pay a heavy price when the Emperor issued his edict and no countries would dare to defy the order if they want to remain as the good boys of the Emperor, at least not countries that are receiving blessings from the Emperor.

Najib would now have to fight his own solitary battle or go begging the Emperor for mercy. In what way had Najib offended the Emperor for the latter to go after his blood and his Premiership?

How long would Singapore and Malaysia’s honeymoon last? Would it survive this 1MDB crisis?

One probable solution for Najib to get all the investigation against him off his back is to acquire a few American warships and submarines. Then he can appoint his Defence Minister as the Commander of his Pacific Ocean Fleet and push China out of the South China Sea. This would please the Emperor and all his 1MDB problem will disappear in mid air. He may be rewarded with another round of golf with Obama. But he needs to do this fast as the new President Trump would not be so friendly and it would be too late.

Stock Exchanges – Has Singapore become the laughing stock?

We were the best, used to challenge Hongkong and Tokyo to be the Number One exchange in Asia. Today, the only thing we can crow about is being the best managed stock exchange, a lot of very good rules to protect investors from investing and losing their pants, and a very expensive super computer that can match the speed of super computers of High Frequency Traders.

Other than the above, we are now slipping down the ladder.  In an article today in the Today paper, it has this headline, ‘Thailand topples Spore as SE Asia’s king of IPOs’. If this is not bad enough, we have even fallen behind Malaysia and Jakarta. We only had 13 IPOs listed in the SGX with only one in the main board and the 12 in the Catalist board.  The funds raised in SGX are less than 10% of Thailand, one third of Malaysia’s and half of Indonesia’s.

What is happening? No one wants to list in the best managed stock market in Asia with leading edge super speed computers, computer trading and non stop trading?  Oh, the regional bourses are promoting themselves and encouraging their local companies to list at home. Great reasoning, we should also do that. The only principle that business people swear in is to make money. If the local bourses are shitty, would their companies list in them to get shit?

If SGX is where they can make money, that alone will be the reason for companies to flock here. No need any funny promotion.  What is happening to the SGX? Retail investors fleeing the market, companies refusing to list and there is a new beginning when companies are starting to delist from the exchange. And the broking houses are as quiet as the cemetery and remisiers and dealers are calling it a day with increasing numbers. Nothing to worry about, it is the new norm.

Is there anything wrong with the stock market? Why is the stock market called a moribund market? Why is the best stock market in Asia, or wanting to be the best stock market in Asia, falling into such a deplorable state? No, it is a wrong perception. The market is in the pink of health. Everything is fine. They are encouraging the remisiers to go for more training to be the best remisiers to service the clients, and maybe help the clients to make more money. There are even specialists in the business, not just ordinary remisiers.

Not to worry, everything is fine, just fine. The SGX is the best stock market in Asia. It would be nice if there is a Times Ranking system like how they ranked the universities and SGX would definitely rank at the top.

How to run down a stock market to ground zero? Impossible! We have the money to buy the best talents from the whole world to manage the stock market. We are paying very good money. We will overcome and be the best we can be.  The best is yet to come. The stock market is in good hands.

Changi Resort beckons for the pioneer generation

The new Changi Prison was built on a sprawling piece of land, landed property, with the latest security system and gadgets, costing, if I can recalled, $1b or $2b! It is a really expensive piece of property but could turn out to be a welcome retirement home for the pioneer generation in time to come. No where in Singapore is there a free charity home providing free meals, free medical, a bed to sleep on and 100% security from terrorist attacks or being robbed or walloped by the rich and talented foreigners on the streets of Singapore. This is the safest fortress for the feeble senior citizens to retire.

There is a new trend developing in Japan, where the senior citizens took on petty crimes as a way of life, to get invited to stay in prison for free food, medical and lodging. The high cost of living in Japan is forcing the seniors there to think out of the box to live and to get by.  The state pension of $9,400 per year for the retirees is just not enough to live on. The next viable and workable alternative is to get into prison for free food and lodging, and the answer to that is petty crime like shoplifting.

Singapore is now the most expensive city in the world. How can anyone expect the retirees without an income to get by? The Silver Support Scheme of $750 per quarter would just be too little to survive. And what about the super expensive medical bills in spite of the Medishield Life Scheme?

Would our pioneer generation survivors follow the trend set by the retirees in Japan? Our Changi Resort is the latest state of the art abode and is perfectly suited for the oldies, free food, free medical, good security and a warm bed to lie on. Maybe this is the foresight of the govt, to plan ahead for the pioneer generation oldies if they fall through the net.

The spacious Changi resort is beckoning to them.  Just be a little creative, and with a little effort, the pioneer generation could be invited to spend their golden years in the comfort and safety of this billion dollar complex, well fed, looked after and secure for life, protected from the elements and the beasts in the streets.

The Japanese have started it and setting the trend. We have the Korean wave for the millennial. This Japanese Wave will be very suitable for the seniors. Would it become the next craze in Sin City? A pop culture for the oldies, a revolution by the seniors.