Bukit Batok By Election – One simple question

Bukit Batok residents should ask the two MP wannabes one simple question. We are going to pay you $16,000 a month, plus bonuses and other tangible and intangible perks. Would these be good enough for them to serve full time?

If the answer is yes, good. Vote for him. If not, ask him why? Money not enough? $16,000 plus plus not good enough for an MP to serve the people full time? Hey, $16,000 is a lot of money you know. The cleaners only earn less than $1000. The sweepers also earn less than that amount, so do the toilet cleaners and security guards. Even an estate manager in any big development would barely be paid half of this sum.

$16,000 not good enough? How much do you want to serve full time? $20,000, $50,000 or $100,000? An MP’s job is very important you know. You don’t think an MP job is masak masak, can do part time, walk about only on weekends and at night.

With $16,000 we want a full time MP. Take it or leave it. We want full commitments and conviction and dedication to do the job, as an honourable MP. We are voting for more than just an estate manager, an MP that looks after us and national issues and represent us in the Parliament, not absent from Parliament. An MP’s job is not chasing after soiled pampers or kissing dogs and cats, or kissing babies only.

The people of Singapore must raise their expectations of what an MP is all about if they are going to be paid $16,000! Of course lah, to some $600,000 also peanuts and would not be able to appreciate how much is $16,000 or $1,000.  Such amounts are small change, not worth a second look, not worth a full time devotion to the job, got more important things to do to make more money. When people look down on $16,000, you know what kind of people they are or what is in their minds, what is more important to them.

Who would you vote for, an MP who would serve you full time or one saying he could only spare you some of his time, part time? Just ask, $16,000 full time, want or not? If not, next please. Have you heard of people sneering, ‘What is $10 million?’

China should tell the American gangster to ‘Fuck Off’

China used its military plane to ferry some injured workers from the South China Sea. And the American gangsters think it is their right to demand an explanation from China as if they own the islands and China is one of its colonies. China should simply send them a letter with two words, ‘Fuck Off’.

Who do the Americans think they are? The Empire of the world and can go around demanding other sovereign countries to explain what they do in their own countries? China and countries of the world should not fall into the trap of responding to the demands of the international gangsters. By replying and explaining what they are doing is in de facto acceptance of recognizing the power of the Empire and to submissively try to explain and justify their actions. Malaysia did the right thing by telling the Americans, yes, fuck off, on the American reports on human rights abuses in Malaysia.

China and countries of the world might as well start to question the Americans for everything they did inside America, like the silly presidential candidates meddling with other countries domestic affairs and criticizing and attacking the rights of other countries and the wars all over the world, the killing of Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi. The thing is that most countries did not have the time to bother with this international gangster and just let the Americans behave like rogues all over the world.

How about China and Russia conducting freedom of navigation around Guam, Diego Garcia, Hawaii and the Carribeans?  Of course they are not so silly to want to waste their resources and tax payer’s money on such silliness. Both did not have wild ambitions to want to rule the world. Only the Americans can make their tax payers pay for such nonsense and counterproductive acts, freedom of navigations, conducting war games all over the world, raising tensions and inciting wars.

Rail Academy to train more rail engineers

Former NTU president Cham Tao Soon has been appointed to assist in the setting up of a Rail Academy to train rail engineers. He said we have lost time and needed to catch up to train rail engineers and develop a workforce for the industry. This new approach of planting our own timber instead of hiring ready made talents from other countries would also serve the goal of building a Singaporean core in the industry.

The SGX also set up a SGX Academy to train better remisiers and specialists for the stock broking industry. Hopefully after all the training the remisiers will be earning more than the cleaners. It would be funny if remisiers have to attend so many courses and training and acquiring so many certificates and qualifications to become specialists and earning just as much as a cleaner. The effort would be a big waste of time and resources, might as well enjoy the more easy and carefree life of a cleaner, no need to attend courses and worrying about the punitive fines for making trading mistakes or violating trading rules and regulations. Anyway it is always good to go for training when one has nothing better to do.  Oh today they call this upskilling. Maybe remisiers should be encouraged to upskill, to multi task and multi skill and acquire a taxi driving licence as well.

With this great interest in training as if training is the solution to all our problems, it is strange that the banking and finance industry is still not moving to set up a banking and finance academy to train bankers and finance specialists. Isn’t Singapore experiencing a dearth of good bankers and shouldn’t the banking industry exercise some initiative, be pro active and join the academy bandwagon? At least it cannot be accused of not doing anything after being found sleeping for the last 3 decades. Or the industry is still thinking of hiring the best foreign talents regardless of nationalities?

Oh, Yaacob should think of setting up an IT or Infocomm Academy with the big budget at his disposal. Academy trained graduates would sound so much better. It just sounds right. At the very least their certificates would be more useful than the degrees that cannot be eaten.  They should convert all the universities to academies that are producing graduates with the relevant and not irrelevant skill sets.

Articles on LKY in social media

Many articles on the commemoration of LKY were posted in the social media and their contents were mostly negative. These articles would not have appeared and the fond memories and dignified final journey would have been etched deeply in the minds of the Singaporeans forever. The appearance of these articles is starting to cast doubt and prompted people to question the contributions of LKY as a pioneering leader of Singapore. Like it or not, the debate would definitely create distortions in the minds of some and make some converts to rethink in their beliefs.

The articles appearing in the TRE, ‘Lee Kuan Yew was only human, should not be revered like God’, ‘Hard truth that PM and sis must obey’, ‘Lee Wei Ling kena Davindered into sllence’, ‘Lee Wei Ling versus Janadas on Facebook’, ‘Lee Wei Ling: The editors in SPH are too timid to disobey’, ‘Why doesn’t Harry’s daughter objected to this?’, ‘Be wary of nimcompoops and sycophants’, ‘Are Dr Lee’s concerns about ‘Pa’ being venerated?’, ‘Ho Ching apologises for ‘rude monkey’ posting’, ‘LKY glorification is not about LKY but about those who try…’, all invited a lot of comments and many from negative to very negative about LKY as the founding PM of the island.

There are many more articles floating around in other sites in the social media, and mostly did not have much good things to say about LKY and with ugly commentaries. All this is so unnecessary, the consequences of the ‘ground up’ exuberance to want to commemorate LKY’s first anniversary in a big way. Like Wei Ling said, the memories, all good, were still vivid in the minds of many Singaporeans, but now so many articles have been written about the event and tarnishing an otherwise fine ending to a long and good journey of a statesman.

What a pity. Doing so much for so little, and some turning out so bad.  In politics, a good feel of the ground is very important.  Never listen to eunuchs.

The bull about PMET unemployment

I have been writing about how difficult it was for PMETs to find reemployment after being laid off. Some took 6 to 8 months, some years, some gave up completely. And I have many sad stories to tell from the number of people in Gilbert Goh’s transitioning.org blog and their testimonies. These people could not be lying as there were real people. And I too have heard and met people that were unemployed or underemployed or simply resigned to retirement.


In the main media on 21 Apr, the MOM came out with a slush of statistics as proof that PMETs were the hardest hit in being laid off last year, all 15,580 of them. And they all have great difficulties finding new employment. The average time, in months for those retrenched or laid off to be reemployed was 2.21 months. The younger and less qualified workers could find new employments slightly faster, averaging less than 2 months. The older PMETs, above 50 and with tertiary qualifications found it more difficult, averaged slightly more than 2 months or about 2.3 months to be reemployed.


So sad, so pathetic.  Really? Let’s see, it would take a couple of weeks for anyone laid off worker to look for a new job, to send out resumes, a couple of weeks to get a reply and a couple of weeks for interviews. These processes would work out to about 2 to 3 months. And if these PMETs could find jobs in less than 3 months, averaging less than 2.5 months, what is the problem? Isn’t this as good as the perfect normal for people changing jobs?


Now, what is this great bull about PMETs finding it difficult to find reemployment? To get reemployed in less than 2.5 months is about the best one can ever get. No problem at all. Absolutely no problem.


What was this nonsense that there were PMETs taking more than 6 months or more than a year to find a job? What was this nonsense that some took several years and some gave up and retired because they could not find a job any more? Got such things or not? Real or not!


I think all these unemployment craps are hoaxes, not true. How can people say it is difficult to find another job when they could be reemployed in less than 2.5 months? What a load of rubbish Someone is lying and telling cock and bull stories. It is a very happy situation as far as I am concern if our PMETs can find reemployment in less than 2.5 months. Tiok boh?  It cannot be any better.


Something amissed? What is missing? To me there is no problem at all. It is too easy to find reemployment here if one only needs to take 2.5 months to do so. Now, where are those PMETs or young graduates that have to write a few hundred resumes and did not get any reply? Cannot be right? These people must be lying. It is very easy to get a job, the most 2.5 months according to MOM. Of course you can say you don’t believe what I am saying. But please don’t say you don’t believe MOM. And statistics don’t lie. And statistics from MOM lagi don’t lie.


There is no unemployment problem for PMETs in Singapore. Period. Getting another job in less than 3 months is like a piece of cake. You cannot ask for more.